Academy of the Dark Side
by cstar7777
Summary: After a mission gone wrong, Ezra ends up detained and eventually brought to an academy that teaches force-sensitive children the ways of the dark-side, whether they are willing to learn or not. Will the Ghost Crew be able to save Ezra before the Academy works its tricks?
1. Unexpected Turns of Events

_**This is the part where I juggle two stories. One reaaally long fanfiction and this one: which should feel episode length... maybe a two parter episode length.**_

_**This is based on an idea I came up with that I could see happening maybe possibly in the future and I just cannot cram this into my other fanfic without it feeling cluttered. I might have elements of this plot in there but I don't think I'll go all out like I am here.**_

_**I'm writing this as if season one is over. I don't know how season one will end but hopefully it doesn't end with any of the crew dying. Which means there are hints of Call to Action spoilers in here [sorry]**_

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

The raven-haired teen had refused to look up or respond to any of the questioning he endured.

Ezra Bridger was handcuffed and placed inside an isolated cell. Well, isolated was not the correct word. There were stormtroopers guarding, two on the outside of the cell and two inside. No one was questioning him anymore though, those who had were told to be off and find the rest of the _Ghost _crew. The main objective was to capture all of the rebels, and they managed to only snare one of them. It was even more of an embarrassment really; they had managed to get their leader in their grasp before, and lost him from other means. But here they could only manage to get the youngest.

What they didn't know what that Ezra knew even before it happened that he was going to be captured. But it wasn't part of a grand plan this time, he just knew because he had a vision about it. He'd seen Kanan give himself up to save them before, it was Kanan who had taught him this overall lesson: everyone had to make sacrifices. In order for Sabine and Zeb to get out of there this time, Ezra had to make his own. He was ready for whatever was to come.

The teen heard the door open, and the presence was a familiar and dark presence. He figured they would have called him up as soon as Ezra was captured. The teen didn't have to look up to know it was the Inquisitor in front of him.

Ezra shifted uncomfortably then quickly looked up at the Pau'an. He had made eye contact with the yellow, evil eyes for only a moment but it felt like much longer. The padawan looked to the floor and spoke, "I'm not telling any of you bucketheads squat."

The Inquisitor glanced down at the boy and walked just a little closer; "I don't recall asking you for any information regarding your master and your friends. They will be dealt with in due time. I am here about you, _padawan_."

"Look I'm not joining you or betraying my master… or my family for that matter. So you're gonna have to kill me."

There was silence before it was punctuated with a chilling laugh from the Inquisitor, which made Ezra look up with fear in his eyes. He tried to hide it soon afterwards; he just hadn't expected the Inquisitor to laugh the way he had. He'd done the evil chuckle before but not a full-blown laugh like the Pau'an just released.

The Inquisitor's eye contact with Ezra was regained in an instant as he replied, "My boy, I am afraid you are mistaken on all accounts. I am not going to kill you. You will fall to the dark side. And inevitably, you will betray your… _family_."

"You can't make that happen."

Ezra watched the Inquisitor head towards the door, he stopped right in front of it and turned around back to the padawan, "I am relocating you a facility on…" The Inquisitor paused for a moment pondering something before continuing, "Actually being the tricky one you are, I will not tell you the system we are taking you to. However, I am bringing you to an academy. A special academy filled with force sensitive individuals such as yourself."

Ezra's eyes narrowed at the thought and replied, "I already told you I won't-"

"They have special methods there that handle children like you. Of course we have resistance… we expect it. It will not last much longer though." The Pau'an turned around and the door opened as he continued, "Soon your mind will change and you will understand the power you can obtain from the dark side of the force."

The teen quickly jumped up from his seat, the two stormtroopers quickly opened fire but Ezra dodged and stood between the two. He ducked just in time for the two to blast each other and then he tucked and rolled to try and get out of the cell.

The Inquisitor had allowed Ezra to at least attempt to get up to the door before he turned around, holding his hand out. The boy felt the air in his throat cut off and he found himself levitating. Since his hands were cuffed behind him, he couldn't reach for his throat and instead squirmed as if he could somehow get out of the Pau'an's invisible grasp.

After a few seconds Ezra began to slow down from lack of air, then he felt himself thrown back farther into the cell. The Inquisitor watched the dazed boy try to pick himself up again before he looked at the two stormtroopers and commented, "Pathetic, how did you pass your training regiment if you haven't the capacity to stop a handcuffed child from getting you two to blast one another." One of the stormtroopers stood up and replied, "Sir we-"

"I have no time for petty excuses I want you both out of this cell."

The Inquisitor brought his wrist comm up to his face and pressed a button, which beeped before he spoke, "I require two more stormtroopers to guard the prisoner in isolation block 4." He walked out of the cell and waited for the two stormtroopers to leave before the door shut.

After a long time of struggling, Ezra finally got himself up to his feet. He stared at the door for a moment's time before he just sat back down on the bench/bed that was within the cell. He really wanted to massage his throat, the pain was unbearable, but with the way his arms were behind him that wasn't an option.

The teen pondered the situation he was in, an academy filled with force-sensitives? That sounded both wonderful and terrifying at the same time. Wonderful because there were others like himself, but terrifying because it was under the control of the Empire. Ezra thought about the crew and hoped at the very least they would get the mission done and then find their way to get him. He knew they wouldn't give up on him.

It would just be hard for them to find him.

So to try and make things easier, Ezra crossed his legs and began to meditate as best as he could. He was still new at it, and he wasn't sure if it would actually work. He felt his mind clear and he did his best to reach out to his master.

He felt something familiar, and smiled when he reached it. But then everything went black as Ezra felt something knock him out cold.

The Inquisitor stood with the two new stormtroopers he had called; he looked at the boy he had just knocked out. He could sense the boy reaching out through the force to his master, and the last thing he needed was a response from the master. However, he knew he may have been too late and the boy may have obtained his goal. If that was the case his job had become much more difficult.

The Inquisitor turned to the two stormtroopers and spoke in almost a darkly casual tone, "Now. I do hope you two aren't as disappointing as the last guards."

* * *

"_Sabine, Zeb, go!"_

"_Kid, you know Kanan won't let us leave you behind."_

"_If you focus on trying to get me out of this you'll get caught and then our mission was a failure. Please."_

"_Ezra-"_

"_Go!"_


	2. Reaction to Failure

**Thank you all for the support, I'm happy to see you guys are liking this!**

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

_Thump._

The _Ghost_ was filled with a screaming silence that was only broken by a rhythmic punch to the wall. They were not in good spirits with their sixth specter being gone, and it was only worse now than the first time Ezra was in the Empire's clutches. At that point, they hadn't known he was force-sensitive. But now that he was more widely known as Kanan's padawan he was certainly in more trouble.

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

Hera and Chopper were both in the cockpit; Hera twirling a data disk in her hand wondering if the mission they just endured was worth it. Kanan and she had stressed the importance of getting this information about the Empire's hidden factory and resource locations so they could bring it to Fulcrum. If Fulcrum distributed this information to other rebel cells including their own they could bring some serious damage to the Empire.

But Hera didn't think it was so important that Ezra willingly let himself get caught in order to make sure the mission was successful.

Even the usually troublesome Chopper was silent and not causing havoc. He understood everyone was in a rightfully bad mood so he just stuck with making basic repairs for the _Ghost_. Hera kept occasionally asking for Chopper to do something else and the droid didn't seem to mind being occupied with simple busywork.

_Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump._

Kanan was in his room, meditating, almost desperately to find his padawan. He had not gone with Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb in order to distract most of the stormtroopers at the higher level. In reality, it worked amazingly well.

The problem according to Zeb was a last minute ray shield that snared Ezra who had fallen behind for only a second. Zeb tried brute force to no avail, and Sabine tried to hack into the system to turn off the shields but that didn't work either. Ezra tried using the force from the inside the shields but it eventually got to a point where an immense amount of guards were called to the area and Ezra told them to go. Zeb was refusing to leave at first, not wanting to leave Ezra to the Imperials again, but Sabine hesitantly had to pull the Lasat away.

Neither of them wanted to go, Zeb visually showing his anger, and Sabine ran off into her room and hadn't been out since.

So Kanan was doing his best to focus and find their missing specter. But he was having more difficulty than he expected.

_Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump._

Kanan 's irritation with the rhythmic punching finally wore off. He shook his head and let out an annoyed breath before he got up and walked over to the door. He let it slide open before he peaked out the side and shouted, "Zeb! Quit with the punching! It's distracting and there's no way I'm going to be able to help out Ezra if you-"

The banging still continued as Zeb opened the door to Ezra and he's shared room, "Kanan it isn't me, if it were the wall'd be gone by now!"

_Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump._

Kanan's eyes filled with a worry as the two males looked across at Sabine's room. The Jedi walked carefully across the hall and waited a moment as he brought his ear up to the door. The punching was definitely coming from inside her room. Kanan waited for a pause between punches before called out, "Sabine!"

The rhythm was broken a little longer before a voice clearly coming through a helmet shouted, "Leave me alone!" and then the punching continued again.

_Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. __Thump. Thump._

Kanan rubbed his face before he forced the door open and walked in; for the sake of privacy (despite having just invaded her privacy himself) he closed the door behind him.

Sabine was still in her full armor, when normally on the ship she would have her helmet off. She was in the far corner of the room, repeatedly punching the wall. She had some nice graffiti art in that corner too, but it was being dented in from her punches. Every now and again she'd shake her hand as if to ward off pain, but then she'd continue. It was almost as if she was trying to punch her way out of the ship.

"Sabine." Kanan spoke as he walked closer. She refused to respond to him, but made a visible distressful sigh upon him not listening to her request to leave her be. Kanan walked up right behind Sabine and spoke up, "Sabine you need to stop, this isn't helping out anything."

She kept punching, her rhythm picking up speed after he spoke. He shook his head and then grabbed the upper part of her arms and pulled her away from the wall. The Mandalorian did not approve and she did her best to try and kick Kanan away. The Jedi was doing his best to keep her from struggling but she was not having it, he finally spoke in a calm voice, "I just want to talk."

"Well I don't! What's talking gonna do?" Sabine's shouts hid an under layer of pain that Kanan could sense.

"It's gonna do a lot more than damage to the ship." Kanan responded with, still calmly, but there was an aggression in his voice that was authoritative. Sabine stopped struggling after these words and she ended up just standing there. Kanan waited patiently for some form of response, but after some time he backed away and went to leave the room. But the silence was broken with a whisper.

"Kanan… I… I couldn't do anything."

Kanan turned towards Sabine who took off her helmet and placed it on a table, but she refused to look in Kanan's direction, "All of my training at the academy, all of my skills, I couldn't get Ezra out of a ray shield…it's all my fault he was captured."

The Jedi walked over to approach her but she stepped further away the closer he got. Eventually he stopped walking and responded, "Sabine, it isn't your fault. Everything that went from was a group effort. You are not to blame for Ezra getting cau-"

"It's not that he got caught, it's that I couldn't save him!" There was a cry in her voice as her hands visibly went up to her face, "Ezra's going to die because I was inadequate!"

Kanan walked quietly closer to Sabine, who was not moving away from him. He placed his hands on her shoulders and he smiled, "Ezra isn't going to die. We're gonna get him back. And I know he isn't blaming you for this. He probably isn't blaming anyone and you and I both know he'd blame Zeb before he'd blame you."

Sabine turned her face to Kanan, her eyes were filled with tears and she still seemed to be holding back more, then suddenly without warning she buried her face into Kanan's chest and started sobbing loudly. He was thrown off for a moment but then he wrapped his arms around her and brought her into a hug.

As Kanan hugged her, he had his eyes closed as he half meditated as he tried to comfort Sabine. But as his eyes were closed he felt a familiar presence reach out to him through the force. It was brief, but he felt it, and once he realized it was Ezra he clung to that presence and refused to let go. At the same time it triggered a physical response he found himself hugging Sabine tighter, which only made her cry more. In some ways, many ways, he felt as if that hug was holding two of his kids at once.

Without letting go of Ezra's presence, he whispered to Sabine, "We'll get him back. I know it."


	3. Arrivals and Introductions

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

For the next few days, Ezra was battling between consciousness and unconsciousness. To limit the amount of resistance until they were in a more secure environment, the Inquisitor requested that every time they saw the padawan begin to stir that they knock him out again with the use of sedatives. For the first few times Ezra would be completely asleep, but soon it got to a point where Ezra was aware of his surroundings. He couldn't think for too long before losing his train of thought but he could hear what went on around him.

On what may have been day four, they had not given him a sedative when he began to stir. The raven-haired teen tried to sit himself up slowly from where he lay but was cautious in case a stormtrooper tried anything. But when he looked at the door, the two troopers on the inside were gone. Ezra scanned the area to see if they were doing anything tricky before he tried to stand up. Being still groggy from the sedatives, he hadn't noticed until he felt the yank at his neck as he walked, that he was chained to the wall.

_Are you kidding me?_

Ezra moved his hands up to examine the chain, and realized it was from the back of his neck. He tried to wrap his arms around his head to get to the back of his neck, but the handcuffs made things difficult. It resulted in Ezra cursing under his breath and sitting back down.

Not even a minute later, he looked up to see the door open.

The Inquisitor stood at first in the center of the door, examining Ezra for but a moment, then he walked further into the cell and rose up his hand in a motion that seemed to signal in troops. But these troops were not the ones he was used to. They were still bucketheads, but they each had a symbol on their arms that the teen had never seen before.

One of the troopers grabbed the chain off of the wall and held onto it, while another one attached another chain to the front of what Ezra then realized was like a handcuff for his neck. The other two troopers stood to the sides with their guns at the ready in case Ezra tried to escape while there was an apparent open window.

The Inquisitor walked in front of Ezra and greeted, "You awoke just in time, we've arrived at our destination."

Ezra put on a sarcastic smile and replied, "That's great, I hope they have secure exits."

The Inquisitor showed no change in emotion from this exchange as he finalized the conversation with, "They do."

The Pau'an nodded at the troopers before heading out of the cell. The troopers with the chains forced him to move forward and out of the cell, and Ezra had no choice but to move.

The Inquisitor led Ezra (or rather the troopers led Ezra) to a ship inside the docking bay of the Star Destroyer. Once inside, the ship, Ezra moved his head to look out one of the windows, but without skipping a beat the two troopers to the side grabbed a hold of Ezra's hair and forced him to look down. Ezra kept forcing himself to look up despite having two people holding him down but it only resulted in the Pau'an questioning, "Why are you struggling to simply look out a window? There isn't much to gain from looking out of one."

Ezra's eyes looked up at that Pau'an as much as he could as he replied sharply, "If there isn't anything to gain, why are you not letting me look out of it?"

There was silence for a moment before the Pau'an replied, "Release him."

The two troopers waited a moment before letting him go. When Ezra looked out the window, he was met with the inside of another docking bay. Either it had been this way the whole time, or they let him go just in time for him to not see outside.

When the ship docked, the troops began to force him out once more, but this time something felt wrong to Ezra in the worst way. And more than before Ezra found himself struggling. The troopers did their best to pull the boy away. The Inquisitor was almost out of the ship, but before he could even step a foot on the ramp, he felt something through the force which caused him to be on alert immediately.

Ezra closed his eyes as they pulled him away, and some sort of survival instinct kicked in. In a single moment, Ezra used the force to push away the four guards. It caused them to stumble back and the two on the chains maintained their grip. The teen tried his best to pull away further back into the ship but the chains cemented his place there.

The Inquisitor had made his way back into the ship and chimed in, mostly amused, "Are you causing trouble already? Where do you expect to go?"

Ezra was breathing heavily in his spot, trying to hold back something. He wasn't sure if they were tears, or anger, or even a laugh, but he was struggling to maintain composure. Although he didn't realize until a little too late, when they started to take him away the second time, he offered up no resistance.

The docking bay was large and mostly empty. The only ones there were four darkly hooded figures, four of the same guards Ezra was being dragged by, and two highly decorated figures standing between the lined up hooded figures and guards.

As the group approached the highly decorated figures, one of them began to walk closer. From what Ezra could gather, the man seemed to be human. His eyes were completely black and his hair was a long, dark red. His robe was black and decorated with gold, red, and purple. It was elegant but off-putting, something Ezra had not seen before.

The man grinned as he spoke in a deep voice, "Ah, our favorite Inquisitor has arrived bringing his catch of the day."

"It is good to see you too, Dwyer." The Inquisitor had replied in a way that should have been filled with a happier emotion when someone sees a comrade, but instead it was the same emotionless tone he always uses.

Dwyer passed the Inquisitor and made his way straight to Ezra. He examined him from top to bottom before a sense of familiarity filled his face, "This is that insurgent boy isn't it? The one with the Jedi?"

"Indeed he is."

"Welcome!" the man spoke clapping his hands once and actually showed joy on his face. He grabbed Ezra's face and seemed to examine it for a moment as he commented under his breath, "Battle worn… young… filled with fear. Oh how excellent!"

Ezra jerked his head back out of Dwyer's hand and barked back, "I'm not afraid."

"Oh and he tried to hide it too, any idea how long this boy was in training for?"

"My guess is only a few months but I couldn't tell you." The Inquisitor replied from where he stood. The Pau'an seemed to be losing some sort of patience over Dwyer's antics.

The other highly decorated figure began to approach the Pauan. This one was a female, but she was an Umbaran and her appearance almost countered Dwyer. Her irises were completely colorless, as is characteristic of the species, and while Dwyer had long hair, she had no hair at all. Her robes were identical to Dwyer's, except she wore a piece that rose up above her head, almost as if she were wearing a queen's robe.

The Umbaran approached the Pau'an and nodded to him speaking in a formal, elegant, yet seductive tone, "Thank you, Inquisitor. You're actions will not go unrewarded. However, I'm sure you have other things you must attend to?"

"Indeed." The Pau'an handed the woman a datapad first before he turned and began to head towards the ship. After a moment, Ezra shouted, "Wait, you're leaving me here?"

"I said I would." The Inquisitor stopped his walking and faced Ezra; "I must deal with your former master now. Why, are you going to miss me? How quaint." The Inquisitor continued his way to the ship before Ezra could even retort about how he wouldn't miss him, and that Kanan was still his master. The Pau'an was the only one who was leaving; the stormtroopers seemed to be characteristic of this place. The ship took off and left, and Ezra was left in a place with nothing familiar to him.

"Well then, boy, would you mind telling us your name?" Dwyer questioned as he walked over to the Umbaran to retrieve the datapad. Ezra's eyes narrowed as he watched the redhead search through the datapad and he hissed out after a bit of hesitation, "Dev Morgan."

The Umbaran and the Human made eye contact for a moment before Dwyer let out a sickening laugh, "Alright then… _Dev…_ allow me to welcome you to our Academy. We will train you in the ways of the force that you former master could never have hoped to teach."

"I'm not interested."

"I do not recall asking if you wanted to be trained, I said you _will _be trained." Dwyer motioned to himself as he introduced formally, "My name is Dwyer Goyes." He then motioned to the Umbaran who bowed her head as he introduced her, "This is my partner Wui Noorn. We are the heads of this Academy and on special occasions, your teachers."

Dwyer made a motioned with his hands, which resulted in the two guards with the chains to detach the chains, and then they were promptly dismissed. The other two took a step back into the lines but were still at the ready. Ezra stood there in confusion over why they would let their guards down before Wui spoke up.

"If you try in any way to escape or cause difficulty in the continuation of your training, there will be consequences. Runners lose their legs, "noble" fighters lose their arms." Ezra's eyes widened as he looked at his own arms which were still handcuffed, "We can replace them if need be, though most prefer their organic limbs. So I advise you to not try anything at all."

Dwyer turned to one of the robed figures and addressed them, "Hevel. Would you please bring Dev to the class-one dormitory?"

The figure, Hevel, bowed to Dwyer and replied, "Yes, master." Before he took a step forwards and motioned for Ezra to follow. When Ezra didn't move, Hevel grabbed Ezra's shoulder and pulled him along until Ezra walked on his own, then he let him go.

The hallways were structured almost as if they were still in a Star Destroyer. Maintenance droids buzzed by and from the looks of it, other force-sensitive children making their way around casually.

_How many other kids are here?_

Hevel turned his head slightly to Ezra and spoke almost in a comforting, greetable way, "Do you have any questions about this place, Dev?"

"Yeah, how do you get out?" Ezra mumbled under his breath almost jokingly. Hevel let out a laugh and replied, "Well, you do get out of the Academy every once in a while when you've made the right choices, but otherwise and definitely for now: there's no way out."

Ezra figured this question was a typical response and decided not to ask anymore questions, but Hevel wouldn't allow the conversation to be quiet so he continued, "Trust me, I've been where you are. You've been forced to come here and told to train under an ideal that is the opposite of what you believe. But once you release yourself from the shackles of the Jedi ways, you'll realize how powerful you can be."

The two reached a sliding door, which allowed entry into the dormitory. There were mostly bunk beds piled up to threes and there were a lot of them. The impression Ezra got from it was that most of the kids were probably class-one.

Hevel brought Ezra to a closet and pulled out a uniform. It was all dark colors: dark pants, dark shirt, dark boots, a belt, and a dark robe to go over it. Ezra stared at it for a moment before Hevel spoke, "You are not allowed to wear anything besides the uniform." Hevel placed the clothes onto a table nearby and pulled out a handcuff key and released Ezra's hands. He rubbed his wrists and replied, "And what about my current clothes?"

Hevel let out a sigh and replied, "If you must keep them for sentimental value, you can, but after a while you won't need them anymore. Trust me." Hevel pulled a box out of the closet and handed it to Ezra, "You can put it in here, mark it Dev, and no one will bother touching it."

After a few moments of getting everything settled, Hevel turned to leave the dormitory stating, "They'll give you the rest of the day off but everything should start up tomorrow. I will probably see you around."

"Wait, you don't stay here?"

Hevel let out a chuckle and turned back to Ezra, "I don't, this is class-one. I am class-four." Hevel moved the robe to show his shirt, which had a patch on it, "You have one too, it indicates the class someone is in. They go up to class six, but usually people graduate at class-five."

"What happens when people graduate?"

"Depends on their skill set, but we're put to use." Hevel turned to leave again, waving behind him at Dev, "Don't get yourself killed the first week."

When the door shut behind Hevel, Ezra's face was filled with pain as he looked over at the academy uniform on the table. He approached it slowly and examined the outfit before closing his eyes and almost screaming for the rebels to find him.

He already didn't like his position.


	4. Word of Mouth

**Thank you guys so much for your kind reviews! It makes me smile knowing you guys like the story so far and the OCs I've made. I also really like reading people's theories on where the Academy is... we'll see in time!**

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

Ezra wasn't quite sure how he had managed to sleep at all. He hadn't had any nightmares fortunately, but he remembered being awake for the longest time and didn't remember falling asleep. It almost felt like he blinked really, and then he felt someone nudging him. He didn't exactly get to pick the bunk he was on, but he was on the bottom of the stack of beds. Two people were above him, and that alone gave an anxiety over whether they would collapse on top of him.

Whoever was shaking him to wake him up didn't have to put in that much effort. Ezra opened his eyes as he heard a male voice say, "Hey, newbie. Wake up."

He turned his head to the side to see someone already fully dressed in their uniform as they continued, "I'm only waking you up today, but from now on you're on your own. Us students don't care if you show up to class or not, but the adults certainly do."

Ezra sat up groggily as he rubbed his eyes and spoke through a yawn, "And what happens if I don't go to class?" The kid in the uniform ducked down so Ezra could see his head. Up until that point, Ezra hadn't noticed the boy was a Twi'lek. The kid came a little closer and traced a part of his face before going back into the light still tracing it. That revealed a dark scar across his face, which was hard to notice immediately since his skin was blue, "Their theory: obedience comes best from pain."

At those words, Ezra got up out of the bunk and moved to put his shirt on. Normally Ezra's clothes were light enough where sleep felt comfortable, since his clothes were made for movement and stealth. However the uniform for this Academy was heavier, and took in less air. So Ezra had slept in the pants and a tank top, which was apparently common attire for the dorm anyway. After Ezra put on the shirt he held his hand out towards the Twi'lek and spoke, "My name's Dev Morgan..."

The Twi'lek looked down at Ezra's hand, then locked a cold stare with Ezra, "Manners don't gain you friends here, Dev."

"I wasn't try-"

"No, you were trying to gain a friend. Friendship doesn't get you anywhere here. Your skills and talent do." The Twi'lek turned to leave the dorm room, which at that point was empty besides the two of them. Ezra put on the robe and followed the Twi'lek out, "So why'd you wake me up then if friendship doesn't get you anywhere?"

The boy stopped his path and let out a quiet chuckle and then stated, "Alado Tan."

Ezra stared confused for a moment before he realized he had just introduced himself, Ezra walked a little more forward so he was walking next to Alado and the two continued walking as he continued, "And actually, Dev, there's a difference between gaining friends and gaining respect. Besides, no one else was going to show you where you're supposed to go today. But _charitable_ Alado Tan decided to put some time aside to help Dev Morgan get himself situated."

"There's something else isn't there?"

Alado stopped his walking and looked around the corridor, which was empty, then he pushed Ezra to the side and whispered, "Rumors spread like wildfire in here, and word has it someone from class-four heard you were training with a Jedi, making you a formerly trained padawan. Is that true?"

Ezra was a bit confused by the approach and took it cautiously, "Why does it matter?"

"Padawans are a rare find these days."

Ezra flinched at the familiar sounding phrase as Alado continued, "If you are a padawan who's had training, we'll find out soon. Anyone who's a padawan that is well trained and broken successfully is promoted to class-three without much hesitation."

The raven-haired teen tried his best to hide back his fear, "Wait, what do you mean broken?"

"Well, padawans are trained by Jedi: those who follow the light. Anyone who is not open to the dark-side has to go through the breaking process."

"But what if they don't break?"

"Everyone breaks, Dev. The time it takes and what it takes to break is different for everyone, but everyone breaks."

"But what if they don't break successfully like you said?"

"What do you think?" Adalo spoke as he motioned for Ezra to keep following him. After a few seconds waiting for Ezra's reply, he couldn't wait any longer, "They die."

* * *

Ezra's first class was taught by a class-six student with little to no patience for anything disruptive. It was a classroom structure with tables and chairs, one of the few that were apparently set up in this way. It was a history class, and Ezra quickly understood the structure of it. They learned a new lesson everyday, so if someone new were to arrive, like Ezra, they could jump right in without needing any previous material.

They spoke of times and rulers that Ezra had never even heard of, and he wasn't interested in hearing about them either. They explained how history was destroyed and re-written by the _heroes _with truths hidden behind biased standpoints. It didn't matter either way; Ezra was still not interested in the class.

When the class was over, he would it immediately odd how the structure was. They had taught history before breakfast was served, which confused Ezra beyond repair. Wouldn't someone focus more _after _eating food than _before_?

Ezra found himself walking to find an empty table, and found himself being pushed away immediately and being told where to go. Upon stopping at one table, he was given an immediately hostile response from a Gungan who spoke, "Wesa no want no unbroken _Jedi _here. Yousa go sit with other unbroken ones."

The teen was confused what he meant by unbroken ones, until he had walked up to what he hoped would be a comforting familiar face: Adalo. However, even he pushed Ezra away, "Look Dev, when the breaking process is done get back to me and _maybe _we'll have a spot. But for now go sit at those tables." The Twi'lek stretched his hand out towards a section of the cafeteria where everyone seemed to be quiet and secluded.

When Ezra walked over to one of the tables and asked to join, they didn't reply as much as they made an open seat for him. He thanked them and took his seat and began eating. The environment was unkind and the force felt wrong here. There was so much conflict and so much tension that it made Ezra want to run off and sit at Adalo's table regardless of what he protested with.

After a few moments of silence a voice broke through it with some sort of blessing, "Good luck."

Ezra looked up to find the source of the voice. It was a darker skinned female, who seemed to be maybe Sabine's age. The others at the table were looking at him and he just seemed to glance around confused before a chuckle from a Mirialan male next to him came and spoke, "He's really fresh off the boat, he doesn't even know yet."

"Wait, what are you wishing me good luck with?"

"The breaking process obviously." The darker-skinned girl replied with and motioned around, "Some of us have been here for weeks, some of us months, the luckiest of us years. We're all still holding on one way or another, waiting to see who breaks next. We hope yours is long and painless."

Ezra showed a visible shudder at that hope before a very pale skinned male human right next to him replied, "She meant quick and painless, long is never painless. Trust me, you don't want to be like Ydan, the Nautolan over there."

Ezra looked the direction the man had motioned towards and saw the Nautolan, who had bandages wrapping each of their head tentacles. They looked like they had been through a long war with all of the scratches and marks on their face. It almost looked beyond hope for him too; his eyes were filled with a sorrow unmatched by anyone Ezra could see. Ezra turned back towards the rest of the table and questioned, "How long has he been here?"

"Five years."

"And he hasn't broken?"

"Yeah, but not due to lack of trying."

There were six people at the table Ezra sat at, including himself. Each of them had some sort of lifelessness to them. A Rodian at the table couldn't stop holding his head and shaking, not really touching his food. The raven-haired teen was aware of how out of place he seemed at this table, and he was afraid of the day he wouldn't stand out.

After a bit of silence at the table, the Mirialan finally broke the ice, "Well, since you're with us for a while might as well introduce ourselves. My name's Sondwa Deerz. I've been here for three weeks but now I'm not the newbie... sorry you had to be the newbie."

The pale-human next to him nodded slightly and introduced himself, "Jacob Faagon. I've been here almost a year. Lived on Corusant before that. It's a fun place for corrupt politicians."

The rodian looked up and said his name so quickly Ezra didn't catch it at first, "Doomi."

Directly across from Sondwa was a female Twi'lek with red skin, who did a motion to her lips and pointed to her neck that had bandages, wrapped all around it.

"Oh yeah, that's Kimmel, she lost her voice during one of the breaking processes. Something about acid." Ezra's eyes widened but then Jacob punched Ezra's arm and replied, "I'm joking, they wouldn't make her swallow acid… they cut her throat instead." Which didn't comfort Ezra any more in any form.

The raven-haired teen shook to try and reach an emotional equilibrium before replying, "My name's Dev Morgan."

"And you're a padawan?" the Mirialan questioned almost immediately after. Ezra was thrown off for a moment because they didn't say _former _before saying padawan. He didn't verbalize a reply, he just nodded indicating it was the truth.

"That's upsetting."

Ezra looked over across the table at the dark-skinned female who just chimed in, "You're stuck here training to join the dark side when you obviously are a glimmer of hope in these times. Man, the more and more this stuff happens the more and more I hate the Empire."

"Oh hush you." Jacob chimed in, pointing the fork he ate with at the girl, "You came here with such a love for the Empire I though you'd have been broken the first day. What was that star cadet nonsense you were always spewing?"

The dark-skinned girl glared at him and answered, "So I had a change of heart, that's not what they usually expect around here."

Ezra took a couple of bites out of his food before he pointed to the girl, "You know, I didn't quite catch your name."

"Because I didn't say it yet." She brought her hand up to her chest and introduced herself, "My name is Dhara Leonis."


	5. The Pit

**"Ezra has actually been with the crew for almost a year now."-Guest**

_**Are you sure about that? That isn't the impression I've gotten. I thought he's just been learning fast. Meh, if I'm wrong I'm sorry. I hope it didn't ruin your reading experience.**_

_**I wanted to clear up a bit about Sabine's crying scene as this seemed to bother some people. This is meant to come after Call to Action, and before screencaps were even released I had a feeling torture droids would exist, and there's always the possibility of "an execution" or something. Since AotDS is supposed to take place after these episodes, I would assume they understand the risks of being caught now. They aren't going to make it easy for them, and it may very well result in someone's death.**_

_**Now onto Sabine's reaction: Sabine isn't necessarily crying because someone was caught. She's obviously not happy about that, who would be? It's more of the matter than Sabine feels she should have had the ability to save Ezra. It's basically one of those ray shields like Anakin, Obi-wan, and Palpatine got caught in during Ep III. She feels like she should have had the ability to hack in and stop it, but she couldn't. This is giving her the feeling that "I couldn't save someone I care about, and I should have been able to. I failed in a field I should be best at." And on top of it, since they don't know the Academy exists, they can only assume Ezra is awaiting interrogation and execution. If they can't get him like they did Kanan, it's over. And who's gonna feel it was mostly their fault?**_

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

There was something about the name that founded familiar, and he knew it too. But Ezra could not remember the match up for the life of him. So naturally, he did not bring it up, but the rest of breakfast was mostly silent anyway.

Alado led Ezra to his next class, despite the Twi'lek not having been willing to let him sit with him at breakfast, but perhaps this was going to be a one day thing anyway. Alado tried to provide some casual banter but Ezra was clearly not having any of it.

Upon just walking into the next class, Ezra was already met with the unexpected.

Something flew at him; it was sharp and aimed straight for Ezra's neck. He was in the middle of the doorway; someone was directly behind him at his level. If Ezra dodged it, he wasn't sure if the one behind him could register that fast enough. If Ezra used the force to deflect it, it would go straight back to the target. Either way, he still felt selfless and didn't want anyone to get hurt.

Ezra turned his body to the right, and right as the object was about to hit the kid behind him, he pushed it into the door-frame where it stuck. Ezra and the classmate both examined the object for a moment, and they realized it was a vibroknife. The raven-haired teen pulled the vibroknife out of the wall and looked into the classroom, which was open like a gymnasium. He couldn't tell who threw the knife from his position, but everyone in the class was watching him.

Ezra held up the vibroknife, "Alright, who threw this?"

"That would be me."

The raven-haired teen jumped when he realized the voice was directly to his left. The vibroknife was taken from his hand before he could say anything and they walked away. He could tell whoever it was; they were the teacher of the class. But their hood was up, and it didn't look like any of the uniforms the kids were wearing. He couldn't see their face, so he couldn't identify the species. But his best guess was a human female.

They twirled the vibroknife for a moment as she motioned for him to come in, "Come on, you're blocking your classmates from getting in the room." Ezra took a breath and looked back at the line behind him and then walked closer so people could walk in freely. She beckoned a finger towards Ezra indicating she wanted him there, so he approached cautiously as they spoke, "Welcome, Dev Morgan, to one of your three daily combat classes. This is the important one without argument. You'll learn how to become a ruthless killer with weaponry, as opposed to defense and hand-to-hand precautions. You can call me Knives, or Ms. Knives if you're feeling formal."

Ezra had a feeling he didn't need to ask why they called her Knives, she placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke in a amused, yet sad, tone, "I must say, you've got experience and quick reaction time for planning… it's just sad the test couldn't have gone the way it normally does."

"Normally?"

"The new student shifts to the side, leaving the student behind them open. The student behind them usually believes they passed the test before, they won't have to deal with it again, and they get a knife to their neck. Life lessons, it's usually the last."

Ezra visibly tensed and Knives let out a laugh before going straight to deadpan, "Stand with the rest of them."

The raven-haired teen backed up and noticed how the rest of the students were lined up; they were in a military formation with their hands behind their backs so their elbows stuck out. Ezra found an open spot in the lines and attempted his best to duplicate their postures, which got a chuckle from someone behind him.

"Class-one, call in!"

Immediately, starting from the first row of students from left to right, people recited their last names, that they were at attention, and ended it with 'sir' despite Knives clearly being a woman. When it got up to Ezra he managed to say with the same energy as the rest of the group, "Dev Morgan at attention, sir!"

When what appeared to be an attendance call was finished, Knives glanced around at all the students before announcing, "Today class, is a pit day." Which almost immediately harvested reactions from kids ranging from cheers to, "Oh please no not the pit." Ezra however, was lost completely. A lot of the more veteran class-one students looked at Ezra expectantly, waiting for him to ask what pit day was or something. Just to spite them, Ezra refused to play their tests of character, and he just stood waiting for whatever was to come.

"You have until the end of class to get out of the pit. The one who gets the bonus is the one who leaves with the most amount of points. Let's avoid killing anyone today, last pit day was a mess to clear up. Everything else is free range." Knives lifted her hand up and snapped her fingers.

The floor opened up, and all of the class fell into a large hole. A couple kids, including Ezra, were screaming as they fell. When the ground approached, Ezra rolled as best as he could to break the fall.

It was dark in the pit.

The only light Ezra could see was from above him, and it didn't shine down into the pit. Any species that could see in the dark was already at an advantage. Ezra closed his eyes and tried to remember some of his Lothal survival skills. As long as his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could see. He just needed to not get blinded by a flashlight or something.

But when Ezra's eyes were closed, he felt something approach him. The teen kept his eyes closed as he felt them come closer and closer. He hoped it was just another confused kid trying to make their way through the dark. His hopes were crushed along with his neck.

Ezra felt something wrap around his neck and begin to strangle him, it wasn't an arm, it was rope-like. He felt adrenaline pump through him and his first reaction was to elbow behind him. His elbow met someone's gut, and his or her grip loosened. Ezra used this chance to pull forward and get the rope into his hands. He ducked his head so the rope was unwrapped and for a moment he was having a war over who would hold on to the rope the longest.

The raven-haired teen felt the strength of the opponent and let go of the rope and rolled backwards. He stood up as fast as he could and he opened his eyes. When he did, he could see a bit more and saw the kid he just faced on the ground. The kid had his hood up, so he almost blended in with the dark.

"That's not a bad idea…" Ezra whispered to himself as he pulled his hood up. He didn't worry about people hearing him whisper, since he could hear discussions and movement in the background anyway. The teen shuffled through the dark, and started heading in the direction he believed the walls might be.

Ezra edged forward and heard in his general area, a blood-curdling scream. He let out a gasp and looked around for the source, for a moment he had wanted to help them out, but then remembered where he was. He didn't know if they actually needed help or were setting a trap. Whether they were friend or foe.

He was alone here.

Ezra continued his way forward and saw something reflect in the dark, he was confused for a moment before he noticed it came closer. Ezra began to back up quickly but whoever it was, turned out to be faster. They tackled Ezra to the ground and slashed at the upper part of his face. Ezra couldn't help but scream in pain from how deep he felt the cut was. Ezra grabbed their arm and twisted it, which got a returning grunt from them. He tried to grab the vibroknife from their grip, then felt the vibroknife go straight down into his palm. Whoever it was continued to push the vibroknife farther and father, which brought Ezra's hand closer and closer to his neck.

_Are they trying to kill me? Or at they trying to bring me as close as possible?_

Ezra closed his eyes and tried his best to relax and focus despite the pain, and he held his hand up and pushed as hard as he could through the force, causing the student to fly away farther into the dark.

Ezra grabbed his arm and did his best to hold back cries of pain. He didn't know whether or not it was safe to pull out the vibroknife without doing more damage or beginning to bleed out. So Ezra had to come to a decision he didn't like: leave it in there.

Getting up and doing his best to move, Ezra finally met a wall. There were patterns that made it easy for climb, but with his hand the way it was he would have to make the climb one-handed. Ezra moved to climb before he saw a figure running in his direction and he got at the ready, though his motivation to not fight was clear.

The approaching student slowed and examined him for a moment before they pointed to their hand. Ezra held up his and the student motioned for them to take hold of his palm. He did not comply, not sure what the student would have done with the vibroknife. The student looked around in all directions before uncovering their face. It was Kimmel.

Feeling a little at ease, Ezra uncovered his hood and Kimmel smiled at him before pointing at his palm again. Ezra held out his hand and Kimmel closed their eyes, after a few seconds Ezra's hand felt numb and Kimmel pulled out the vibroknife. Ezra almost let out a shout in pain but Kimmel covered his face just before. She moved her hand across his palm and while there had been bleeding, it seemed to slow. Ezra looked up at her and nodded a thank you.

The mute Twi'lek made a motion and handed Ezra the vibroknife. Kimmel looked at the wall and grinned at the realization it was a climbing part. She pushed Ezra closer to it, which seemed to indicate she wanted him to climb. Ezra began his ascent, which was a little easier since his hand already felt better. His head still hurt immensely and he felt something drip into his eye as he climbed.

But that wasn't bothering him, what bothered him was the question: what did Kimmel just do to his hand?

Kimmel was right behind him, and when Ezra looked down, he realized she also had her own vibroknife on her. Ezra continued his climb, trying his best to not look up, in case the light came and ruined his vision. He kept scanning the area while maneuvering his way up the wall. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until he heard a blaster charge. He looked in the direction he heard the charge, but that was apparently the wrong direction.

Ezra heard the blast come from the other direction and he allowed himself to drop down. He swung to the side so he wouldn't knock down Kimmel. He landed right next to the Twi'lek who did their best to keep him from falling any father. The two looked up to see another student above them with the blaster pointed at both of them.

Without a moment to think about it, Ezra had gone into a self-defense mode, and felt himself throw the vibroknife up at the kid. He heard it make impact but refused to look, and heard the kid let out a noise as they lost their grip and plummeted back down into the pit.

Kimmel looked down with her eyes widened before she turned to Ezra and motioned for him to move, "R-right, sorry." And the two continued their climb.

After what felt like an eternity, Ezra found the end of the wall, and rolled up onto the floor breathing deeply. All of the pain was felt now, especially the large gash on his head. He almost wanted to cry. He moved to get out of the way so Kimmel could get up, but was surprised when he saw someone charging at him up on top.

The student aimed for a kick to Ezra's head, which Ezra dodged in time. Ezra grabbed the kid's leg to trip him up so he couldn't try kicking him again. But instead, Ezra ended up throwing the kid back into the pit.

This caused Knives to let out an amused laugh, and Ezra stood up and looked around dizzily. There were students up there, but they weren't on Ezra and Kimmel's side of the pit. Knives was on his side, who seemed amused by the whole ordeal.

"Fantastic job, Dev, this is the first time in a very long time I have seen a new student make it out of the pit on their first day. You're not going to have nearly enough points to win the day, but I must applaud you for what you've accomplished." Knives looked over at Kimmel, who wasn't paying attention to Ezra's and Knives' interaction. She grinned so widely that it could be seen under the hood, "I do know a way you could win the day though, if you're up for it. You'll set a record and get rewarded for it."

Ezra must have had a look of curiosity as Knives pointed to Kimmel and whispered silently, "Throw your ally back in the pit."

"What?"

"You need to understand when to make use of allies and when to throw them away in order to succeed. I don't normally give hints like this, but I see great potential in you, Dev Morgan. So do it, break whatever bond you created and throw her in the pit."

He didn't even have to question it, Ezra shook his head, "No."

"No?"

"I won't throw her back in the pit, not to further myself. I'll take what I have."

"And how do you know _she _won't throw you back in. In this Academy there is no trust, no friends, no allies. Wouldn't you rather gain a reward from this? To be able to show those classmates who look at you like their next meal that you're a force to be reckoned with?"

"Not this way."

Knives' smile turned into a frown, "Very well… but your alternative is unfortunately a lot more painful… you _Jedi minded scum._" Knives brought something to her ear and whispered into it, then she motioned away, "You better go and continue with class, it isn't over yet."

Ezra backed away nervously and walked in a direction to help Kimmel keep people from throwing her or him back into the pit. But as Ezra walked, he felt something jam into his neck. He immediately lost the use of his limbs and dropped to the ground and felt his eyes closing as he heard words that haunted him even in his unconscious state.

"I guess it's time to start breaking you."


	6. Happenstance and Miracles

**"Shouldn't Ezra have immediately recognised Dhara as Zare's sister?"- Guest**

_**Probably, but thinking realistically: if you were brought to an academy and you were just told they will do **_**anything **_**to twist you to the dark side, is the first thing on your agenda to identify where you've heard the name before? Ezra's gonna remember and bring it up later, I'm just giving it some time.**_

**"And out of curiosity, is The Pit upposed to be like The Well back in Breaking Ranks?"- neostorm854**

_**More or less. While the Well's goal was to see who could get out of there in the fastest time, the Pit's goal is to see who gets out, and how many people they prevent from getting out. Which is why there were people attacking at the bottom of the pit, making it so kids couldn't leave.**_

_**Sorry this chapter is "late", I was feeling ill and I felt like I wasn't making any sense when I wrote the chapter. But here it is now!**_

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

**Please keep note of the fact I am writing this story as season one's ending is undetermined. I am trying my best to not make up anything not yet revealed in any episodes, so I am trying my best to write this in a way that guesses how it will end, without actually knowing. This contains spoilers for up to Rebel Resolve.**

* * *

"You're absolutely certain he isn't on Mustafar?"

"Kanan that is the first place we checked, either they knew we would head there first, or they never intended to bring him there in the first place."

Kanan sat in the co-pilot's chair with his face buried in his hands and his elbows leaning on his thighs. He had little sleep for almost three days, only sleeping when he absolutely had to or when Hera forced him to get some shuteye.

They had been constantly breaking into Imperial bases and gathering intel and getting out of there only to find out they needed to find more intel at another base in a different location. At this rate, they felt they were never going to find him in time.

But Kanan knew Ezra was still alive.

He didn't know _where _Ezra was, and knew it would be a terrible idea to just drive around space aimlessly following a feeling as if he were a metal detector. He just felt Ezra's presence from when he reached out to him all those days ago, and he still clung to it.

It was against anything they had taught in the Jedi Order, what he was doing was not the way they would have approved of. He knew it from hearing conversations between his own master and masters who had their padawans missing in action during the Clone Wars. They did not want Jedi to form attachments, even with their padawan. If a padawan went missing and finding them was deemed hopeless, they expected masters to let their padawans go. If a master truly believed their padawan survived, they were to trust in the force, with the thought that if a padawan survived, they could make their way back on their own safely.

That ideology was from a more civilized age.

This wasn't an age where Jedi had as many allies, where a padawan could ask a ship to return them to Coruscant and reunite with their masters. This was a time where all Jedi, any age and any alignment, were slaughtered.

If Kanan were a little more disciplined, perhaps he would have let Ezra go, understanding that he couldn't expect to go on a wild chase across the galaxy when his padawan could die at any moment. But Kanan was stubborn. Ezra pushed for the rest of the team to find him when he was captured, they had gotten him out of there. It almost felt wrong not to push for the exact same goal: save their soldier.

Fulcrum only helped them for so long before they began refusing to help. Their job wasn't to be the center of attention and to get their missions done and make sure their Jedi were safe. It was the opposite of the situation Hera had earlier. Fulcrum stressed the importance of keeping Ezra safe when Kanan was captured. Now, Fulcrum stressed the importance of keeping Kanan safe. Hera knew no matter what argument she came up with, there was absolutely no way she could stop Kanan.

Their recent intel mission got them a map of all the Empire's Star Destroyer's recent routes. The map looked absolutely messy and there was no way based on just the ships alone that they could determine which was the one they were looking for. The paths and routes twisted and turned, some ships went from one moon to another moon, while others went from the Outer Rim to the Core Worlds. It covered nearly every meter of the known regions of the galaxy.

Sabine had Chopper projecting the moving hologram, and she shifted through a bunch of data logs, seeing recent arrivals on Mustafar, just to reassure Kanan, "There were no arrivals to Mustafar on the day Ezra should have arrived there…"

"Karabast!" Zeb finally chimed in from his seat behind the pilot's chair, he slammed his fist against the arm of the chair before growling, "This would go a whole lot easier if we knew the name of the destroyer he was transferred to!"

"I know that Zeb!" Sabine barked back as she looked back at the logs, "We were in a base when Ezra was captured, I do not know which ship could have taken him, or where they would have taken him."

Kanan leaned in a little closer holding back a yawn, "Did you check what ships would have departed around the time Ezra was captured?"

Sabine pressed coordinates, which zoomed up to the planet of Arkanis, "Around the time Ezra was captured, there were no Star Destroyers in the area. They had him detained for up to 4 hours. Within that time…"

Sabine fast forwarded the paths and pointed to the three star destroyers just outside the atmosphere, "These three destroyers came at the exact same time and departed at the exact same time." She fast-forwarded the time again another two hours, "But another Star Destroyer came and left a few hours later."

"So, you're suggesting Ezra could have been on any of these four ships?" Hera questioned at Sabine's examination before she nodded, "But here's where things get tricky."

Sabine highlighted the Star Destroyers' paths in red before zooming out and showing the paths through the galaxy, "All spread out in completely different directions."

One of the paths disappeared halfway through and Kanan examined it, "Which one was this?"

"The one that left after the initial three."

"It… disappeared?"

Sabine scanned through and looked at Kanan, "It did, but I don't know about this one, it says their end destination was… Lothal."

"Lothal?"

"Yeah, the path disappeared and reappeared at Lothal. If they intentionally wiped the path so people like us couldn't find it, I feel like Lothal would be too obvious."

"Did any others have odd differences like that?"

Sabine looked through the logs one more time, "There was a ship that went into the expansion region and disappeared briefly, then reappeared again and is still on a course heading back to the outer rim."

"So, we may have narrowed it down t' two…" Zeb chimed in before continuing, "So how do we get the missing path locations?"

All five of the Specters seemed to react to this question, Chopper stopping the projection and everyone else pondering it. After a bit, Zeb was the one who spoke up, "Didn't Ezra say his friend in the academy got transferred t' Arkanis?"

Sabine's fingers snapped at Zeb's comment, "Ah right, Zare wasn't it? We could see if he knows the transfer orders for any of the ships. Why didn't we think of that sooner?"

"Because we don't know how to get in contact with him." Hera chimed in, when everyone focused on the Twi'lek, Hera continued, "We haven't used him for intel since he told Ezra about the senate building. We don't know where or how easy it is to get a hold of him at this academy."

Sabine shifted and let out a hesitant sigh before holding her hand up, "I can go in undercover and find him. I know what he looks like and I'm roughly the age of a higher class cadet."

"I don't like it." Hera mumbled under her breath as Kanan looked over at her, "I don't like it either, but if it's what we have to do, we should do it as soon as possible."

* * *

It was two days later and Zare Leonis was heading to his regular patrol. Arkanis had far more information about the Empire and their overall tactics than Lothal could have hoped for. It hadn't been a very long time that Zare had been here, but he already knew so much more.

One of the more recent going-ons was a prisoner transfer that Zare had listened in about. They purposefully called in multiple Star Destroyers to distract rescuers from helping them. He figured they must have been important, because they went through a lot of trouble to get them out of there.

But his curiosity needed to be sated, and Zare couldn't believe that the Empire willingly wiped the logs of the ships in order to hide them. This was a clue that Zare felt was his business, and on his own time he managed to figure out the exact transfer orders of the prisoner. The identity of the prisoner however, was wiped.

He had a good feeling about the location the ship brought them too, and felt the search for his sister may have finally been coming to a close. But for now, he had to keep playing the good-little-cadet card.

As Zare turned around a corner, he nearly ran into an older cadet and nodded, "I'm sorry, ma'am." And went to continue on his way before he heard, "Wait a moment cadet, are you Leonis, C3-7?"

For a moment, Zare was nervous about the potential possibility of having been caught from all his snooping, and it was only worsened when he heard her reply, "I need to speak with you for a moment regarding your recent behavior."

This was a regular job for a higher-class cadet anyway, so Zare did not pay mind for a moment, but he was even more nervous that he had left tracks. He followed the cadet into an isolation cell, and was confused by the choice location before the cadet moved her blast shield from her face, "Sorry about that… I'm Sabine. I'm one of the rebels… Dev works with."

Zare looked unsure for a moment, he remembered the mandalorian that helped Dev escape and saw the picture of Dev's whole team on holonet news, but he hadn't seen the mandalorian's face. On top of it, Zare remembered along with Dev's last exchange that Dev's real name wasn't even Dev. But he still didn't know it. But then a bigger question came to mind, why wasn't Dev here?

Zare glanced around at the camera's in the cell before she replied, "I blocked them off: we have three minutes to talk before they get suspicious." Sabine pulled her helmet off fully before continuing, "I am going off an assumption you may know information about a recent prisoner transfer."

The teen's eyes widened at the words as he nodded, "Yeah I do actually, what do you need?"

"We need to know exactly where the prisoner went." Sabine looked pained for a moment as she continued, "The prisoner is Dev."

Zare wished for a moment that was a joke but he knew it wasn't. He remembered Dev had used the force and remembered how they had wanted to take him and Jai from the academy. If Dev was taken, he had a feeling his suspicions about his sister may be right.

"A ship transferred Dev to Umbara a few days ago, it just listed the planet and nothing more specific than that. I hope that is helpful."

"Oh believe me, it is. You have no idea how important that infor-"

"Sabine."

The mandalorian had been putting the helmet on to get ready to get out of there before Zare interrupted her, "I have been looking for my sister all this time and I feel like this might be the place. I need you to let me know if she is there, her name is Dhara Leonis."

"Zare I cannot guarantee I'll even see her. But if you'd like you could come with us."

Zare shook his head, "I can't, and if it turns out the information was wrong I can't lose this spot here. I have no proof she is actually there."

Sabine let out an unsure sigh as she put on the helmet, "Alright, I'll see what I can do for you, Zare."

Sabine opened the door, and right outside was four to five stormtroopers, waiting for her with their blasters pointed. Zare was not in view of the door but upon hearing the stormtroopers outside, the cadet purposefully positioned himself so it looked as if Sabine had knocked him over.

The mandalorian grinned behind the helmet and as the stormtrooper told her not to move, she moved, throwing one of her miracles under their feet and firing a blaster.


	7. The Breaking Process

**Hey guys, I'm sorry this took so long. I should be up and running again now that I've give myself the will to write. Thank you all for your support and kind words, it really means a lot.**

**In case anyone wondered, yes I did see Fire Across the Galaxy. I'm still upset about the Inquisitor but whatever. I said this was supposed to take place "after FotG" but I also said I couldn't predict anything. So although the Inquisitor was in Chapter 1 and Chapter 3, if it really bothers someone just picture **_**another **_**Inquisitor there instead. After all, this story tries to establish there is more than one Inquisitor.**

**I don't even care about Darth Vader just let it be what it is. I'm only human.**

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

Ezra woke up dazed, unaware of his surroundings for a moment. It was almost as if there was no ground, but he was lying down. When his senses began to function correctly, he realized he was in fact on the ground.

The raven-haired teen stood up with a dizzied-ease before he tried to take a step forward. When he did, he found himself shocked by something and he backed up with a shout. The shock woke him up more, and he looked around frantically. The room was dark except for the particular lit up area he was in. He wasn't sure based on that if it was a small or a large room, but he didn't see anyone else in there.

"Oh, he is awake."

Apparently although Ezra couldn't see others, others were in the room with him. At the sound of a chuckle he already knew one of the occupants. Out of the shadows came Dwyer Goyes, with a grin on his face and maliciousness in his eyes. He approached the invisible cell Ezra was stuck in and his smile grew wider, "Hello there, _Ezra_."

There must have been a look of shock on Ezra's face that indicated his stress, because Dwyer immediately followed up with, "What? You think with all of our intelligence we couldn't have possible known your name? Have you met Senator Gall Trayvis? He claims to have met you, and knows you are the Bridger's son. And since they only have one child on record I can only assume you are Ezra Bridger."

Ezra's gaze diverted, completely irritated that his cover name was useless at that point. Dwyer let out a chuckle and crossed his arms, "Besides, using Dev will clearly not be as effective as using Ezra, we have let plenty of kids fly by with fake names. If a new identity is what you need to fit in, go ahead and take it."

The raven-haired teen narrowed his eyes and shouted at the man as if he could attack him with just words, "I don't know what you think you can do to me, but you can't break me. I will never fall to the dark side."

"And that, child, is where you are wrong." Dwyer held up a hand and motioned as if calling for someone to enter, "I said to you when you arrived that on special occasions, Wui Noorn and I would be your teachers. This is one of those special instances."

The Umbaran female from the other day, Wui, stepped into the light next to Dwyer. Something about her presence this time felt entirely off, and when Ezra made eye contact with her, all she did was return a polite smile.

"Now, Ezra." Dwyer continued as he nodded at his partner then looked back at the teen, "What is it you desire most?"

"If you mean besides getting out of this stinkhole, the end of the Empire." Ezra spoke with almost a humor to his tone of voice. What threw Ezra off though was that instead of irritation from the two adults, he got a laugh from Dwyer.

Wui looked at Dwyer with what appeared to be annoyance before she turned back to Ezra, "Surely you have desires more personal to you that the end of the Empire. Desires others do not share?" The teen did not budge at her wording, and the Umbaran responded by holding up her hand, "Tell me, what drives Ezra Bridger to continue on?"

Upon holding up her hand, Ezra gained a splitting headache. He held his head in his hands and closed his eyes hoping for the pain to stop. Whatever she was doing must have been physical torture, surely it must be.

When the pain stopped, Ezra looked up to see Dwyer and Wui. But it wasn't them he saw.

On the other side of the invisible barrier he knew was there, were Mira and Ephraim Bridger.

Ezra rubbed his eyes for a moment; sure he was hallucinating from the headache. He turned around to see if something was up before turning all the way back. He was certain this was a trick of some sort. If he said he saw his parents, then they would know what they could use to torture him.

The teen forced out a laugh and responded, "Is that all the breaking process is? A headache? Surely there's more to it than that."

The raven-haired adults looked towards each other, and then back at the boy, "What are you talking about, Ezra?"

Ephraim stepped closer to the invisible barrier and responded, "Did you hit your head in that last mission you and the crew were on?"

"You were just telling us how much you had learned from Kanan in your last adventure." Mira responded with a smile.

Ezra's eyes had widened and Mira looked around, "Oh dear, all that talking and it's dark in here now. Let me go turn on a light."

Ephraim shook his head and looked at Ezra proudly, "You know, Ezra… I know it's an odd time to say this, but after you saved us and found us a place to stay that is hidden from the Empire, sometimes all we can look forward to is your stories."

The lights turned on and Ezra had no recognition of where he was, everywhere looked normal and protected. It was a living room, with couches, chairs, and a holoprojector ready for whatever it was needed for. There were plenty of windows, but it was too dark to see the setting.

Mira shuffled back over to Ezra and Ephraim and quickly as possible before smiling, "So, how is the crew? I hope you and Zeb haven't been causing too much trouble."

"You know Hera would have told us if he had, Mira."

"Not necessarily, she might not be used to us being around yet… oh yeah. How's _Sabine _been?"

"Don't taunt him, Mira, he's a boy and he's allowed to have a crush. You're probably embarrassing him."

The two looked at Ezra, who looked completely confused and almost scared at what was going on. The two parents sensed this and questioned, "Are you okay? Do you need water?"

"You look off."

Ezra shook his head but still didn't respond, and right where Ezra thought the invisible barrier was, Mira stepped up and pulled Ezra away from the spot, "Maybe you just need to sit down, sometimes adventures can tire you out."

The boy pulled away from his mom and backed up as much as he could, "You aren't real."

"What?"

"You can't be real… I… I…"

"Ezra?" Mira's face was filled with a mother's concern, she turned to Ephraim and questioned, "Should we get Kanan?"

"What would Kanan do? Use the force to calm him down? Ezra needs to calm down on his own…" Ephraim placed his hands on Mira's shoulders and then nodded at Ezra, "We'll give you time to yourself. We'll be in the other room."

As the two went to leave, Ezra felt a sudden feeling of despair watching them leave. This didn't feel like some sort of conjured up trick. These were his parents, who were happy to hear about his missions and travels. They were here for him, and so was the _Ghost_ crew. He didn't know why he suddenly felt so scared upon seeing them leave and he took a step forward and reached out his hand as he started to walk towards them, "Wait. Mom! Da-"

The shock brought him back to reality and Ezra screamed before he fell to the ground writhing in pain. When Ezra looked up, he saw Dwyer and Wui there. Wui still held up her hand with her eyes closed. She lowered it as Dwyer responded, "So it's the parents that drive you. Or is that a desire? For them to still be alive?"

Ezra sat up quickly and shouted, "It's none of your business!"

Dwyer snapped his fingers and the invisible barrier sent shock waves at Ezra, who let out screams he could not control that were pained and horrifying. When they stopped shocking him, Ezra shook with pain as Dwyer responded, "It is completely our business. Did you want parents proud of you waiting for you whenever you go home? Or maybe it _is _just the idea that they are alive. You want them to be alive. Or maybe you're drive is so your parents are proud of y-"

"Shut up!" Ezra hissed out as he attempted to stand up, "So what? You know my parents are important to me. What are you doing to do with that?"

Wui smiled sadistically and looked at Dwyer, "We could torture them."

"Have him see them die."

"Have them see _him _die." Wui's voice was filled with almost as much joy as Dwyer's always was, "We could do so many wonderful things with that notion. It's invigorating."

"Now now, Wui, don't get too excited. This is just day one."

"I know." Wui's grin seemed to widen even more, "That's why I'm excited."

Ezra finally got himself to stand up straight and Dwyer turned towards him again, "Sometimes the best kind of breaking is the breaking of the mind. The will can be restored, and the body can be fixed, but the mind is complicated." Dwyer snapped his fingers and Ezra was shocked again and fell to the ground.

After what seemed like forever, the shocks stopped, and the barrier disappeared. Or at least that's what Ezra assumed because Dwyer pulled him to his feet by his hair, "Now tell me, Ezra Bridger, do you crave power? Or do you hate being the lesser power? You feel shackled, don't you?" Dwyer pulled at his more and Ezra held back a shriek as he continued, "You must hate the idea of not having the advantage here. You cannot leave, and you have no tools to defeat us. We can provide you with power, Bridger. You just have to open your mind to the dark side."

Ezra responded by spitting in Dwyer's face.

Dwyer responded by torturing Ezra Bridger until he was satisfied.

* * *

He was barely able to walk, if holding on to the wall was even considered walking.

Ezra let out a grunt with every step, and when he moved too fast or too roughly, he'd let out a shout. The pain was unbearable, if not worse. The rest of his session was just physical torture, and the occasional break to ask personal questions he refused to respond to. They only stopped Dwyer because they needed to save energy in order to break one more that day.

Apparently they were taking a night session for someone, Ezra had taken up the rest of the school day. And it felt like they took the whole school day.

Ezra just barely managed to get into the dormitory, where most kids were asleep. A couple kids that weren't asleep were talking to each other, and stopped their conversations to look at Ezra. Some chuckled, a couple commented about him, but then they continued on casually.

Ezra took a few steps more in before he collapsed to the floor entirely and shook in pain as he tried to stand up. After a minute or so, Ezra heard footsteps run up to him and attempt to help him out. His skin was easily irritable and the person's contact with him caused him hold back a scream.

The teen looked at the person who helped him up and responded, "Th-thank you."

"Don't mention it."

They pulled down their hood and then Ezra realized why they helped him out. It was one of the kids from the table.

It was Dhara Leonis.


	8. Sore Subjects and Luck

**I know you guys probably lost faith, but I'm back! I've been going through a lot of life issues but at the same time I've been going through end-of-senior-year stress. My last day of classes is this week after all. I'm so sorry I couldn't keep this as updated as I would have liked… I have been slowly writing this over the course of two months but I've been working on it weekly. Deleting parts, adding parts, fixing issues, fixing plots, trying to figure some things out…**

**Happy to see Rebels returning in June though!**

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

Dhara's main concern at that particular moment was getting Ezra to a place he could at least sit down, but he directed her to where he said his bed was located. Following the directions she looked up to see that the two above his bed were not there yet.

Ezra collapsed onto the bed onto his own and cringed in pain and curled into a ball. Dhara told him to hold on a second and left. She came back a few minutes later with medpacks. Ezra eyed them and questioned, "Did you steal those or something?"

Dhara let out a soft chuckle and replied, "No, they want us at the very least productive after their sessions. So these are open for grabs. They don't work the best but they're all I've got."

"No healing powers like Kimmel?"

The dark-skinned female gave Ezra a look that made him widen his eyes in concern, "Why are you giving me that look?"

Dhara crossed her arms and spoke factually, "Usually it's a trained and developed power. Not a lot of people have it, and the only person who would willingly heal us is Kimmel… but she's been missing since classes ended."

Ezra brought his hand to his face and whispered, "Karabast…" he spoke a little louder, "This hurts more than I thought it would. Even with everyone's injuries and pained faces… I thought I'd make it through it."

Dhara handed Ezra the medpack and he activated it as she responded, "Well the pain goes away and the scars can fade over time but… you're not talking about the physical torture are you?"

The blue-eyed teen's eyes seemed to glow brighter at this comment, almost startled, and the dark-haired girl sighed, "You think you're the only one getting the mental breaking? Everyone is. The best way to break someone is through the mind."

"But… can't someone overcome a forced change?"

"That's the problem." Dhara replied as she handed Ezra another medpack, "They do push the mental breaking, usually using the Force, but they are trying their best to make someone turn willingly. So they push it, but just enough to give them thinking space."

Ezra sat up in the bed, it was a little easier after using the medpacks but he was still sore, "I'm guessing you've seen enough people break to know that?"

Dhara responded with a sad nod. Ezra immediately followed up with, "What do they torture you with?"

For a moment, Dhara seemed thrown off, as if she didn't expect the question, then she retaliated, "Why would I tell you? You wouldn't tell me yours if I asked."

In his mind, this was a good point. He nodded in defeat at this and fell back down on the bed. She was quiet for a moment before turning her head towards Ezra, "My family… they use my family. Specifically they like to use my younger brother. They like to make me feel like I didn't save him… that I didn't keep him from the wrath of the Empire… but I'm sure he's alive out there somewhere."

Ezra covered his face for a moment almost as if he'd pass out any minute. Then a sudden thought crossed his mind and he shot up, "Hey wait a minute, your last name was Leonis right?"

"Yeah wh-"

"I know your brother, Zare right?"

Dhara's eyes lit up in fear as she covered Ezra's mouth, "Don't go shouting his name out like some fool. Do you want them to _really _get him and torture him?"

Ezra shook his head and she released his hand as she questioned, "How do you know him?"

"We were both cadets on Lothal at the Imperial Aca-"

"Wait… _you_ were a cadet?" Dhara whispered back dumfounded by the revelation and Ezra scratched the back of his head, "It's… a long story… but he was looking for you."

Dhara's face seemed to turn from curiosity to pain, and she turned around and responded, "Get some rest, you'll need it after all of that."

Ezra didn't have time to say anything before she left. It was almost as if she were avoiding the topic altogether, but who was he to judge? He slowly lowered himself down and closed his eyes to force himself to sleep.

* * *

Breakfast the next day was filled with a lot more sympathy than he expected.

Ezra still felt sore, _very_ sore, and those at his table could tell. Some were trying to give encouraging comments; others were trying to make him laugh (some worked and resulted in Ezra shaking in pain). After a little bit of time, Ezra finally managed to focus a little more and looked across the table. A certain red Twi'lek was missing.

"Where's Kimmel?" Ezra managed to let out after staring at the space for quite a while. The group looked amongst each other to see if the others knew until Jacob spoke up, "We don't know, Dev. But based on what we were hearing… it probably isn't good."

"What? Why?" Ezra's eyes lit up with concern as Sondwa chimed it, "Don't get concerned for her. As awful as it is, it's best to just forget about her and move on."

Ezra's face looked pained as he turned away from the group and mumbled, "Kimmel pretty much saved me in the Pit… I don't know how long I would have lasted."

There was a bit of silence from the group before a laugh came from beside them, causing them all to quickly look in that direction. Standing there was Alado, who seemed to have headed there to speak with Ezra, but obviously had a change in conversation. "That Jedi wannabe is dead for exactly that reason."

"Go away, you're not welcome here!" Jacob growled at the Twi'lek, Alado let out a laugh and grabbed a fist full of Jacob's hair and pulled at it, "I'm not welcome here? You all are the ones not welcome here. If you aren't strong enough to realize the power of the dark side, you should just be our practice targets for our powers. Besides, if Kimmel hasn't broken now, then she is never going to break. She had the chance of making it places because she was a former padawan but now she's nothing but garbage."

Almost right on cue Alado's face was slammed into the table. Which caused the group to jump. The person who had grabbed his head and slammed it down was none other than Dhara. Alado looked up at her and glared at her, "How da-"

"Enough."

The voice silenced that entire section of the cafeteria. Standing in the vicinity was a cloaked student, with a class-four patch. They approached the scene and Alado rubbed his nose as the student spoke, "Alado, would you please return to your seat."

Alado quickly walked away but the student still stood there and turned to the table, "You should all know fighting is prohibited outside of allowed areas."

"Alado started it." Ezra found himself chiming in involuntarily. The table immediately looked at Ezra with concern, as if saying: don't do it Dev. The cloaked student replied, "Are you questioning my authority, scum?"

"I'm saying you should be giving this speech to Alado too."

The cloaked student grabbed Ezra by the neck and held him in a strangle hold, "Let me teach you a lesson about class-four students, newbie. You don't get to question us. You are just ants in comparison to-"

Out of fear from the strangle hold, as more of a defense mechanism, Ezra had punched the student in the face. There was a small gasp that came from the Rodian at the table before the class four student threw Ezra to the ground and pulled out a lightsaber and pointed it straight at Ezra's face, "Do I have to teach you a lesson the hard way?"

* * *

_A Day Prior_

There was an insane amount of blaster fire following Sabine as she bolted down the hallway. She brought her comm up to her mouth and shouted, "I hope you're ready Specter 2, because Specter 1 and I need out immediately."

The situation for the _Ghost_ was not much better. After there were alerts of an intruder the _Ghost _was found almost immediately and became the target for a TIE-fighter swarm. Hera immediately responded, "I'm doing my best Specter 5, but I'm tied up here too."

Zeb let out a short laugh from his position on the guns and responded, "Get it, tied up? 'Cause of all the TIEs?"

"Not funny Specter 4!" Kanan shouted from outside the building. He had yet to pull out his lightsaber but he did continue to shoot at the troopers with a blaster, "There are a lot of stormtroopers down here that whatever set off the alarm set it off bad."

"Oh come on, shooting bucket heads? It sounds like a _blast_."

Chopper even let out a beep of disgust at that last one as he shot another few TIEs. Zeb rolled his eyes and replied, "Well I thought it was funny…"  
Zeb shot a couple more times at a TIE but completely missed it and Hera shouted, "Why don't you put a little less effort into the jokes, and put a little more effort into hitting your targets. You're making Kanan look like a dead-eye shot."

_"Hey, I heard that!"_

"I don't know what you're talking about _Specter 1._"

Zeb shot a few more times and still didn't hit a target. He slammed his fist against the arm of the chair, "Karabast! I'm just not on target today."

"Well get on target! I need you!"

Zeb let out a shout as he began rapidly blasting at the TIEs and finally got one of them. Chopper let out an evil cackle as he rolled into Zeb's gunroom and took control of the direction controls. He began to spin it out of control as Zeb let out a yell. He kept firing though, and all of the shots miraculously ended up hitting all the TIEs in the area.

Hera stared out the cockpit in disbelief at the sight and shouted, "Chopper, don't break the guns! I need those!"

Chopper let out a cheer as he let Zeb have control once more, and Hera began to descend shouting, "Alright Specters, it's now or never. Get to the ship _now._"

Kanan was right outside, but he waited until Sabine ran out of the building, but she wasn't out yet, "Specter 5 we need you now!"

"I'm trying, but there's a bit of a problem!"

"And what problem would that be?"

Sabine was standing with a gun pointed at fifteen stormtroopers lined blocking the exit, and the other way had fifteen more. There were thirty stormtroopers on her, blocking escape. The mandalorian responded with, "A two front line up."

Kanan's eyes widened as he ran towards the entrance to go and help Sabine out. But Sabine wasn't going to wait for Kanan.

"Put the blasters down now, rebel!" one trooper shouted. Sabine placed her blasters down and held her hands up. Three approached her and went to go and detain her, but instead Sabine grabbed one of them and snatched their blaster, knocked them down, and then she grabbed two of them and held them as human shields, one to the front and one to the back. The troopers hesitated for a moment, but they blasted after a moment. Since they were aiming for Sabine's head as opposed to the lower half of the body, since her "shields" were blocking there, Sabine dropped to the ground quickly. The blaster shots went across the room and most of the troopers ended up shooting at themselves.

Sabine grabbed a blaster now that she had more of an even ground and she said, "Wow, I can tell you guys are still training. You guys shouldn't be blasting each other." Sabine shot at the remaining ones right as Kanan ran in, he looked at the thirty or so troopers on the ground had his mouth open in awe as if he was about to say something before Sabine ran past him and pulled him along with her in the direction of the exit.

The two specters ran on board panting as Hera took off as quickly as possible. Zeb continued shooting at TIEs that remained, before Hera took off into hyperspace.

Sitting in the cockpit, Hera let out a breath of relief. Sabine and Kanan pretty much limped in and collapsed in their chairs from exhaustion as Zeb and Chopper followed behind. Hera turned to Sabine and looked at her expectantly, "Well?"

"Umbara. He's somewhere on Umbara."


	9. Punishments

_**I didn't abandon you this time, I promise. I had finals, I got a job, and I photoshopped Ezra and Zeb's head on a space waffle… it's not abandonment, it's priorities!**_

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

Ezra's reaction time could not have been more perfect when he managed to roll under the table as the cloaked student clearly aimed to jab their lightsaber at Ezra's shoulder. His tablemates seemed to close in around the table almost protectively, as if creating a wall. Ezra noticed their legs and heard the protesting of the cloaked figure as he tried to figure out what to do next, but he was clearly running out of time.

Some of the other apprentices started to pull his tablemates away so it was easier for the cloaked student to get to him. When he heard a loud thud on top of the table he knew his thinking time was over. He moved just in time to see a lightsaber go through the table and right next to his head.

Ezra waited for the lightsaber to be pulled away before he rolled out from under the table, quickly turned around, and then tackled the cloaked figure on the table. This seemed to be an unexpected reaction, because the student was knocked off the table and rolled off with ease, but they took Ezra along with them.

Once on the floor, the cloaked one kicked Ezra into the air, and he flew back and hit the table. Since he was now at an 80-degree angle, he used this moment to try and get to his feet, but was immediately punched and pushed into the table by his opponent. Ezra let out a noise of pain unintentionally, and then proceeded to punch the cloaked figure in the face.

When they staggered back, Ezra held his hand out and used the force to pull the lightsaber away from the cloaked figure, and he activated it. He held it in a matter of preparation for battle and the figure laughed, "Oh this'll be great. Barth, let me borrow yours!" the cloaked figure shouted across the cafeteria. At this point, they had an audience, some people standing in a circle around them, some holding the tablemates back, the most were still at there tables, watching. The teachers were intentionally turning a blind-eye to what was going on, that much was noticeable.

Another cloaked figure threw the opponent a lightsaber and they activated it. Jacob struggled in the classmates' grasps and shouted, "Dev, don't do it! Just give back the lightsaber! You've still-" Jacob's mouth was blocked and there was laughter from some of the surrounding classmates at his muffled continuing.

Ezra looked nervously at Jacob, and then looked back over at his opponent, who twirled his lightsaber and responded, "Come on, padawan, show me what you're made of." After a moment of nothing, the figure let out an annoyed grunt before charging at Ezra and attacking. Ezra held up the lightsaber to block it, then parried.

Although he wasn't amazing with a lightsaber, at this point Ezra was way better than he had been before, what with the training and all. However, it was clear in the way the cloaked figure moved and carried themselves that they were the far better fighter, and were far more capable with a lightsaber. However, Ezra had actual field experience, and this left advantages in how he would move around to bring it to his advantage.

There were no fancy flips and kicks in this fight; it was mostly Ezra on a defense and his opponent on the attack. Ezra refused to let his back near him for even a minute, but this tactic was starting to no longer work.

After one extremely strong attack on part of the cloaked student, Ezra was disarmed and weaponless. The opponent approached Ezra holding their lightsaber out to them and responded, "Look at how _weak _you are, _Jedi. _When will you learn?"

Ezra moved as if to run off again, but instead two of the classmates grabbed him and kept him from moving. The raven-haired teen struggled as the opponent continued, "If you want to be the stronger one while you are here, you need to give in to the dark side. You can argue all you want about how much stronger you'd be if you were out in the galaxy hiding away and training, but while you're here clinging to your hopeless ideology, you're just going to get weaker. And weaker. Until you become so worthless you might as well just die."

The cloaked figure held up their lightsaber and spoke, "Now, let me teach you the punishment for being disobedient and willingly fighting." a grin could almost be seen on the classmate's face as they slashed down with the lightsaber. Ezra let out a cry in pain as he felt less restraint from the classmates now. Mainly because they didn't have another arm to hold him back with.

The class-four student had sliced Ezra's arm off with the lightsaber.

The other classmate let go of Ezra and most of his kids disbanded letting out a laugh. Meanwhile Ezra was gripping where his arm should be in absolute agony. When his tablemates were let go, the first one to get to Ezra's side was Doomi, who tried to calm him down, "Doomi understand Dev's pain. Doomi suggest taking deep breaths."

Ezra looked at the Rodian, almost pissed off, as Sondwa approached, "He's just trying to help. We all are…"

"I'm not." Jacob chimed in as he sat back down at the table. Sondwa looked at him and shouted, "Are you kidding me? Are you really going to do this right now?"

"If Dev hadn't fought him he couldn't have lost his arm. Besides, this _happens_, it's part of the process. It's best if he just moves on and forgets about it."

"Are you holding what I said about Kimmel against me, Jacob? That's reasonable advice, what else was I supposed to say? Are you really going to tell a kid with a lost limb to-"

"If you two girls are done fighting." the group looked at Dhara who had apparently left and had run back within that time, "We need to get Dev to the medical bay so we can, oh I don't know, _fix his arm?_" Jacob and Sondwa looked at each other, then looked away pissed off before Jacob spoke, "Fine. Someone might wanna get the limb though, maybe they can reattach it, keep it mostly organic."

Ezra's face was filled with disgust, almost as if he were going to throw up, as he stood up with the help of Doomi, "Can we not? Please?"

* * *

In a highly decorated room of the Academy, the two headmasters and a couple of cloaked students stood in a row. Another cloaked student stood in front of the rest, as if they were the particular once being addressed, which they were.

"So, our newest padawan has already engaged in lightsaber combat then?" Dwyer grinned amused at this development, "And lost his arm too. Well, he may not be the most predictable, but at least he isn't an outlier."

The Umbaran approached the student and questioned, "Are you certain he was as poorly trained as you say?"

"Well, he wasn't poorly trained, just not as trained as he could be. I'm not sure if this shows the lack of training his master may have had. It isn't completely out of theory… anything else, Master Wui?"

The Umbaran smiled as she responded, "I am certain that your strength and determination has been proven. As a result, I will make certain you start off as a brand new Inquisitor first thing tomorrow morning. You are dismissed."

The student bowed to the headmasters and then made their way to leave. The two remaining students stood waiting and Dwyer looked to one, "Hevel. I understand that you were the first one to be introduced to…Dev. As a result, I want you to join him in the next few classes he should have. I believe Knives will be happy to have a class-four student along, especially since she seems to be planning something for Dev." Hevel bowed as Dwyer waved for him to be dismissed.

The last student stood silently until the door was completely closed. Dwyer broke it once more and responded, "I trust the events of today and yesterday will cause more of them to break soon? Especially due to the unfortunate disappearance of Kimmel amongst them." Dwyer folded his hands and chuckled as Wui spoke, "If you wish for your curiosity to be sated, Kimmel is still alive. We are keeping her… asleep… in one of the isolated chambers for a few days. We're just hoping it tears a couple more of them apart losing one of their friends… she was also making it quite difficult for Dev understand the going-ons around here."

A female voice carried from the cloaked figure as they responded, "It is too soon to tell, but I know it is definitely getting to Dev. I hope this is what finally gets to Jacob. This may actually affect more of the others with her healing abilities out of their way. Are you sure you don't want to make it a week or two? You will definitely get someone within the week."

"We better get someone within the week." Dwyer responded in a hostile way, "We need to have this process start going faster. Are you sure you haven't found any more weaknesses from anyone?"

"If you try breaking Dev again tonight, I can definitely find another weakness. I know he asks a lot of questions, and is willing to give answers when emotionally confused enough."

Dwyer and Wui looked towards each other for a moment in silent negotiation before Wui grinned sadistically, "I _really _want to try _torturing_ the _parents_ this time."


	10. The Pack that Broke the Eopie's Back

_**Hello everyone, Here's the deleted Author's Note chapter for everyone:**_

_**It's been months, I've been getting all of your comments and feedback about everything and it's truly been wonderful. I've also been constantly reading fanfics whenever I get an email despite having been silent... And I'm guessing you guys thought I had dropped off the face of the earth and wasn't going to bother coming back... sorry about that.**_

_**I had a job that took a lot of energy out of me over the summer, I was still going through a lot of familiar issues and I'm now in college actually. Although it's been busy, with Rebels Season 2 coming up I had this empty part of me for never finishing this story despite having the majority of the outlined plots for all my stories.**_

_**So here's the deal-e-oh:**_

_**If you guys do not mind me picking this up again, I will be writing these on a schedule. I'll be putting up at least one chapter a week (I can't do my aggressive schedule once every 2 days or even 1 day anymore guys I'm sorry, I just can't) and I****will****finish up all of my stories and possibly start writing other ones if ideas come to mind.**_

_**Thank you so much for all your wonderful and kind support. And I hope you all have a lovely day.**_

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within the story there will be original characters, or interpretations of characters not yet formally introduced, but everything else is owned by Disney.**

* * *

"Ow!" Ezra shouted as a medical droid had tested a shock on his hand. They had successfully managed to reattach his arm, but they had to recreate nerve smaller parts lost due to the lightsaber cut. Ezra rubbed his arm as the droid proclaimed, "Reattachment successful. You are dismissed."

Ezra got up out of the chair rubbing his hand as he walked out to see Doomi, Jacob, and Sondwa waiting for him. He was surprised they waited and Sondwa spoke up, "Everything alright, Dev?"  
"Well, my hand is fixed if that's what you mean." Ezra mumbled under his breath until Sondwa messed with his hair and wrapped an arm around him saying, "That's great though, you're still mostly organic! You took that lightsaber like a champ but still managed to keep your hand."

Jacob scoffed and crossed his arms saying, "You're saying that like it's a good thing he got hit by a lightsaber at all."  
"That wasn't necessarily my intention…" Sondwa admitted before saying, "Anyway, classes are about to begin and Knives isn't gonna like us walking in at least minute so we should go while we still can."

Ezra walked with them towards the class looking around before stopping and asking, "Where's Dhara?"  
Sondwa and Jacob looked around for a second before Doomi said, "Doomi know Dhara said she head to room because Dhara left something there."  
"Why are you worried about her anyway, Dev?" Jacob asked curiously before Ezra replied, "I was just curious is all, since she was here earlier…"

When they entered the classroom Knives was already there sharpening something as she watched everyone enter. Ezra stood between Jacob and a complete stranger up until the point Dhara had run in and stood right next to him and he raised an eyebrow at her, "Got what you left in the room?"  
"Wha- oh yeah I did." Dhara said still catching up on her breath. She looked over towards the front of the room and then back at Ezra asking, "Geez Dev, what did you do to Knives?"  
"Huh? I d-" Ezra cut off what he was saying when he looked over and saw Knives glaring the death glare at Ezra directly and he took a deep breath and said, "Yesterday. Yesterday is what happened."

"Class-one, call in!"

Everyone shouted their name in reply towards the teacher. She then stabbed the knife into the table and walked in between the lines of the students saying, "Today we will be testing your skills with a duel. I will not be able to get through all of you but we can most certainly learn from those who do duel today. After I have selected the two who will fight the two I select will decide what determines the other winner. I remind you all that there is no restriction on what determines the winner, so have yourselves some fun if you must."

Knives looked at the group before saying, "Jacob Faagon, step forward!"

Jacob took a deep breath surprised he was picked and he readied himself for whoever else was called. Knives made direct eye contact with Ezra before saying, "Dev Morgan, step forward!"

Jacob and Ezra's eyes widened before there were a bunch of cheers from the group over the fact two 'unbroken ones' were dueling first. Knives had the two face each other before saying, "Tell me, what determines winner?"

The two were dead silent, but suddenly they heard someone in the crowd shout, "Make it death!"  
That comment made many in the crowd cheer in agreement over the person's shout and Jacob and Ezra were shaking their heads at each other.

After a point Jacob said, "When the other opponent is no longer able to fight. No severing limbs, only exhaustion or being pinned down."  
Ezra nodded in agreement and there was a disappointed murmuring in the crowd and Knives walked away for a moment before coming back with two vibroblades saying, "I will keep this in mind, but remember that the determination could change during the fight if any… accidents occur."

Jacob and Ezra each took stances but Ezra was having trouble holding the vibroblade. It wasn't exactly a lightsaber and it definitely had more weight to it. After a bit of adjustment Knives said, "Let me know when you two are ready. And remember. I want to see you two put all your effort into this fight. If not, I will most definitely switch one of you with a different opponent. Also, remember that the crowd can provide a distraction if they wish."

Jacob look to Ezra and replied, "I'm ready."  
Ezra took a deep breath and confirmed, "I'm ready too."  
"Then begin!"

Immediately the group erupted in cheers and Jacob ran straight at Ezra and swung the vibroblade with a lot of force. Ezra blocked just in time and saw a spark of electricity come between the two when they collided. Jacob was more on the offensive while Ezra parried and backed away, sometimes Ezra swung towards Jacob and was blocked. This pattern continued until the crowd started booing, "Use some real force, or _the _Force!"

Jacob jumped over Ezra and kicked him down. Ezra dropped the vibroblade which caused a bit more of a cheer and he rolled out of the way just in time to see Jacob stabbing down at the ground. Ezra looked over and said, "That would have killed me if I was there!"  
"Sorry." Jacob replied running at Ezra who grabbed the vibroblade and blocked another attack just in time. He then kicked Jacob back and got to his feet and now he was on the offensive. After a bit more blocks, Ezra managed to hit Jacob which resulted in a yelp before Jacob held his hand out and force pushed him back into the wall. Ezra hit his head and slipped to the ground. Jacob approached him as Ezra stood up and took a bit of time to recover and Jacob taunted, "You know, for the one that's being trained by a Jedi, you're not doing too well against me."  
"Haven't you been here for a year training to kill?"  
"Good point, Dev. Good point." Jacob lifted his blade just in time for Ezra to kick him to the ground and point his blade at him to keep him standing up.

Knives clapped a bit and said, "Good, good! Now how about you slash at him and put him in just as much pain as you put Kimmel in."

The two looked surprised at that comment and Jacob said, "What are you talking about?!"

"Oh, didn't Dev tell you? After Kimmel helped him out of The Pit yesterday, he cut off Kimmel's legs and threw her back in the pit. The look on her quiet face was wonderful, the look of betrayal and pain was satisfying to watch." Knives said licking her lips.

"That's a lie!" Ezra shouted looking at Jacob who was staring in disbelief.  
"What purpose do _I _have in lying? Did you tell everyone in your little group that Kimmel was just taken away? How horrible, manipulating your little group of sympathetic friends like that."

The crowd was loud and Jacob looked so betrayed. Ezra could hear Dhara, Sondwa, and Doomi shouting that Knives was lying, but it was behind a wall of the crowd chanting. Ezra moved his blade only to feel his breath cut off and he felt himself choking. Jacob was standing up with so much hate in his eyes as he shouted, "I _trusted _you! Why do I keep trusting you people when you keep betraying me like this! You're all the same!"  
"J-Jacob-" Ezra begged feeling the hold on him become stronger as Jacob said, "I thought maybe with an actual padawan coming in here I had a chance to get out of here without falling. But now I understand. Even you can't resist being tempted by the power. So why should I hold back anymore? I should accept that this is my place and embrace the opportunity before me."

Ezra felt Jacob loosen for a second and he said, "She's lying. I promise. I never hurt Kimmel. Please, I wouldn't hurt or kill anyone!"  
"Well _I'm _gonna kill _you_!" Jacob hissed throwing Ezra painfully back against the wall and running at him with the blade pointed directly at Ezra's chest. Ezra didn't have enough time to breathe, he instead held his hand out and used the Force to have the vibroblade come back to him. Ezra blocked and stood up, feeling Jacob trying his best to kill Ezra. Ezra felt the vibroblade hit him a couple times but eventually he caught Jacob's sloppy rhythms. Because he was so filled with emotion, Jacob was putting much force behind his attacks, but they were easy to block and predict because of this.

After a bit of time, Ezra felt himself tiring out from blocking the attacks and he knew he had to do something. So Ezra purposefully pushed himself back far enough. The crowd was cheering for Jacob and Jacob was running at him. Ezra held out his hand and felt himself shaking while he tried to concentrate. After a bit of time, he managed to lift Jacob in the air, Jacob was surprised by this and Ezra closed his eyes and he lifted him just a bit higher before using as much force as he could to throw him to the ground. Jacob let out a grunt in pain but he let go of his blade and felt himself growing faint.

Knives watched intently as Ezra walked closer and Jacob looked up at him and said, "What- what are you waiting for? Kill me."  
Ezra shook his head and said, "No."  
"I swear, if you do not kill me, I _will _kill you." Jacob hissed out. Ezra shook his head and said, "Our agreement was when one of us was unable to fight anymore… so…" Ezra formed a fist and felt bad for a moment as he connected his first to Jacob's head and knocked him out.

While there were disappointed murmurs in the crowd. The match was over and it resulted in Knives saying, "Well then, Dev Morgan is the winner. But I must commend Jacob Faagon for his efforts. I feel he perhaps, deserves a promotion to another class. Anyone else agree?"  
The class seemed in agreement over that and Knives ordered Ezra to go back in line.

Ezra watched them pull away Jacob and he felt horrified, that he may have just been the reason another person fell to the dark side. And it wasn't even the truth that broke him. Dhara put a hand on Ezra's shoulder to comfort him and said, "There was nothing you could have done. This happens all the time… we knew Jacob was going to break… I'm sorry they used you to do it."  
"I'm actually surprised." Sondwa admitted looking over at Dhara, "Jacob seemed to be fairly levelheaded and content this whole time. This sudden breaking was so random."  
"Doomi seen this happen often. One day fine, next day broken." Doomi added.  
"Even the strongest ones…" Dhara finalized with.

Ezra closed his eyes as his face clearly showed his pain, guilt, and in a way his fear.

_Please…. Please give me a chance to get out of here… _

_Please…_


	11. Intrusion

_**If you won't complain I won't complain…**_

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

"So… that's quite the blockade." Kanan murmured as they looked at a map surrounding their planetary destination. Rather than a ring around the planet on one latitude, there were several ships at different points around the planet. And on top of it reports they were able to collect claimed that there were bases on the ground that were keeping a lookout in some of the empty spaces. They had this place tightly locked down.

"Well, we know this place definitely has more people than Ezra on it that they want to keep contained."  
"Well there's many reasons why." Sabine chimed in and leaned her elbow against the arm of her chair, "Umbara is well known for their weapon production. I wouldn't be surprised if this is where the Empire is developing some of their top secret projects."  
"But why would they take the kid there?" Zeb asked looking amongst everyone.

Hera changed the perspective of the planet to look at another side and Kanan said, "Umbara is a dark planet that those born on the planet can see no problem, since they are adapted to it. But if any fleet unprepared or any rebel unsuspecting came in without preparing themselves… well it would probably end badly for them."

"Again. Why would they take the kid there?"  
"It's easy to hide secrets." Kanan and Sabine replied at the same time.  
"So how do we get him out of there? How do we know where to find him?"

"That's the hard part… but maybe…" Hera looked at Kanan and asked, "Can you call out to him through the Force?"  
"I would need enough time… and I would need to hope he is searching for it… when Ezra called out to me I was focusing on myself, almost meditating. If Ezra had called out to me when I was being… interrogated… I don't know if he would have found me."  
"So we go for it hoping that maybe he's listening?"  
"Well we'd need to find a way to get close enough to Umbara for that to work…"  
"I think I have found a way." Hera said, showing an opening in the blockade and saying, "But we need a smaller ship to remain undetected."  
"So we take the Phantom?" Sabine questioned.  
"I don't know if all of us can fit in the Phantom."

Kanan was quiet for a moment and said, "Then we'll go and you stay with the Ghost and Chopper stays with the Phantom."  
"Will you three be alright?" Hera asked looking worried.  
"We will be as alright as we can be…" Kanan responded crossing his arms and staring at the map.

* * *

Ezra and the usual group were sitting in the eating area, now with another person gone. The four almost didn't want to talk to one another and anyone else. Jacob had joined another table, with class two's welcoming him in to the new class he got promoted to for accepting the dark side.

Dhara looked amongst them and finally said, "Guys, we can do this. We have to do this. For Kimmel and Jacob. For everyone…"  
"I know, it's just hard to think about." Sondwa admitted cutting his food that he had already cut to pieces into smaller pieces, and then smaller pieces. Trying to avoid eating it. After a moment or two Sondwa looked at them and asked, "Who do you think they're taking tonight?"  
"What do you mean?" Ezra asked looking confused before Dhara sighed, "Whenever someone new breaks the higher ups get excited and decide while we are upset about losing our friend and take one or two of us in for an all-nighter breaking session."

Ezra had been eating quite a bit at that time and looked at the three's plates to see they had barely touched anything and he asked, "Is that why you guys aren't eating?"  
"That and I'm just not hungry." Sondwa sighed crossing his arms. Doomi looked like he was ready to cry and Dhara was avoiding looking at everyone and finally Ezra couldn't take it and he smiled suddenly at the three and they all looked confused.

"Uh, Dev, you okay?"  
"Is there something in the food?"  
"Doomi definitely won't touch food now."

"No no. It's not that." Ezra chuckled and said, "They want us to be sad and miserable, so let's try smiling."  
"That'll probably piss them off more." Sondwa replied, but after a few seconds Dhara started smiling too and Sondwa blinked and said, "Not you too…"  
"It feels good… and weird because it's forced."  
"It looks weird because you two are forcing it."  
"Well maybe I should Force it." Dhara said holding her hands up slightly and Sondwa's lips suddenly were pinched lightly upwards, forcing a smile and Sondwa's eyes widened as he tried to open his mouth and Dhara chuckled, "With your eyes open like that you look crazy eyed!"

Ezra couldn't help but laugh at the expression and Dhara let go of it. Sondwa then held his hands up and did the same thing to Dhara grinning mischievously, "Let's see if _you_ like it!"

Doomi let out a little laugh and Sondwa let go and all four of them started laughing together. It got a couple confused looks from some of the tables but otherwise their laughs were at least not interrupted.

* * *

Although he had been pretty fast asleep in bed, not long after he felt himself yanked out of bed by two of the class-four students, hooded and pulling him out of the room. Ezra had been so surprised by the sudden act that he didn't realize what was going on until thirty seconds in when he began struggling and one of the students said, "Don't bother struggling or you'll just get drugged."

Ezra continued anyway for a bit but before anyone could stick him with a drug they covered his eyes and threw him into a room. Before he could remove the blindfold someone else grabbed him and walked with him for a long time. After a while they had him stand still for a moment before he heard the buzzing of a ray shield and he knew he was back in one of the torture cells. He moved to remove his blindfold but suddenly heard, "We gave you the blessing of a blindfold tonight so any visual tricks would be avoided. You can take it off if you wish but it is only going to make it harder for you."

Ezra moved his hands away from the blindfold and asked, "What if it just makes it harder to distinguish real and fake voices?"  
"It's your choice." The voice stated. The voice sounded familiar, but it was definitely not Dwyer or Wui, but he couldn't figure out who. The voice was female, and from how sharp their voice was it sounded like it was more than likely Knives. Which made Ezra feel just great considering how much Knives hated him.

"We will begin now, and the first thing I am going to ask for you to do is to count to fifty. But you will be shocked with every number. If you do not say the number, or you say anything other than the number, that it is not that number for the shock. If you lose count, you will have to guess where you are and start from there."

Ezra figured this was going to be relatively easy though he wasn't excited about the shocks, and the first shock didn't seem too bad and he began his count. But as the shocks went on, they seemed to increasingly get worse. At about thirty, Ezra already lost count, and accidentally brought himself back to twenty. And this cycle seemed to continue, until he got to fifty. Actually having taken almost two-hundred shocks instead.

Ezra's head felt light and he heard the voice distantly but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He felt another shock which made him wonder if he hadn't finished counting. Since he was fairly certain she said fifty. But then another shock came and Ezra still couldn't understand them. Then he felt everything suddenly focus as he heard his mother's voice, but it was almost gibberish. Then his father's voice joined in the chorus of gibberish. Then he swore he heard Kanan's voice, Hera's, Sabine's, Zeb's. He heard many voices he could identify but no words he could understand until he started hearing his name come out of the chorus of gibberish.

_"Ezra. Ezra… you know it's okay to give up sometimes, right_?" he was fairly certain that was in Sabine's voice and he was confused by what she meant before she said,_ "Just like we did with you."_  
Ezra tried his best not to respond, knowing it was probably one of the torturing tricks again. Then Zeb's voice came in saying, _"It's true kid. Just like I gave up helping you the first time we met. Just like we were ready to give up with Kanan. Now we're ready to give up with you. If you give up on us, we understand."  
"Just like your parent's friends did with you."_ Hera's voice chimed in and Ezra felt tears coming out of his eyes as he whispered, "Stop…"  
_"Ezra? Ezra!"_ Kanan's voice seemed to chime in and Ezra was scared what they were going to make Kanan say. He knew it wasn't true, but he didn't want to hear them manipulate his master's voice._  
"Ezra, we're here... but we need to know where you are. Ezra!"  
_"Stop…"  
"Ezra, we are here to help you. But we have no idea where you could be. We don't want to leave you here. Please."  
"Stop… stop!"  
"I can feel you Ezra… whatever pain they are putting you through please try to-"  
_**"GET OUT!"**_ Ezra screamed, crying more, and he felt angry at them for doing this. He lifted his hands up and heard someone let out a shout and then he heard something electronic break before he held his head hoping things would silence. Then the voices stopped, and Ezra heard the buzzing stop. And he felt in so much pain. Mentally and physically that he couldn't even move as he lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.

Walking into the room, Dwyer and Wui looked at all the damage in the room, and the one who had been torturing Ezra was on the ground on their back as well, holding their arm in pain. They lifted themselves up as Dwyer asked, "This was supposed to be a more gentle session. But whatever you did really got to him… what did you do?"

The torturer was in a class-one uniform and turned to Dwyer and Wui and moved down their hood. It was Dhara, "I didn't do anything. Someone else intruded."


	12. Justification

"**Did you name one of the characters after the talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live"?"**

_**Not intentionally. I was going more for the last name's meaning more so than Jimmy Kimmel. But what happened was when I was naming her character the name randomly popped into my head and I was like "Do I know that name? What does that name mean?" and looked it up and I liked the meaning and went with it.**_

_**In hindsight I might have had Jimmy Kimmel's show name somewhere in the back of my head at the time of naming her character. But I never go back and change character names. I mean, I named Jacob "Jacob Faagon" because it sounds like me in my Boston accent saying "far gone", and I knew he was going to break so he would be "too far gone" for anyone to save… so I'm not exactly winning on the creative scale. But thank you for asking!**_

**Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.**

* * *

Kanan's eyes opened widely as Ezra's words echoed through his head. When the echoing was gone, all could be heard was silence and Kanan's deep breathing as Sabine piloted the ship and Zeb moved over and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Kanan, are you alright? You look like you saw a ghost."

Kanan stood up from where he had chosen to sit and he walked over to the front of the Phantom, "Whatever is going on, Ezra is in so much distress he is rejecting a connection through the Force. And I sensed something dark…"  
"The Inquisitor maybe?"  
"If the Inquisitor has him then I am not surprised, but we're going to have to find Ezra ourselves. I can tell you for a fact that he's on this planet."

Sabine shot Kanan a look and said, "Even if we narrowed down where he is, we still have an entire planet we have to search through without being detected."  
"And on top of it we don't know how long Ezra might have…" Kanan noted crossing his arms and looking out the window. They were trying to keep as discrete as possible but it was very hard due to the fact they had to keep the lights on when Sabine was driving. After a point Kanan said, "I'll take over again, but we'll need to find a way to get Ezra's location."  
"If the Empire likes doing anything, it's logging their information even if it's discreet. If we can get to some sort of base on the planet maybe I can sneak in and-"

"Why don't we just ask that guy?" Zeb said pointing to a stormtrooper just as Kanan shut off the lights and then Zeb said, "U-um… well we can't see him now."  
"No I see who you're talking about but we better hope he somehow didn't notice us."

Suddenly there was blaster fire, probably more blaster fire than one trooper could produce at once so there must have been more and Kanan sighed, "He noticed us."

* * *

"Dev. Dev!"

Ezra's eyes opened, hours later, and his body felt horribly sore and his mind felt exhausted. Hovering over him in his room was Dhara. Ezra looked around dazed and said, "I… I need more sleep… please…"  
"You're late waking up and if you don't get to classes in time they're going to make you feel worse… did they end up trying to break you last night?" Dhara asked looking worried and helping Ezra up.

"Yeah, they did. But something wasn't right."  
"What wasn't right?" Dhara asked prodding a bit and Ezra not knowing much better said, "I feel like… I feel they were way too good at it. They made me feel like Ka… my master was there in my head. And I don't mean an impression, like, as if they got him for real… like. I felt like his genuine concern was there with me…"  
"Don't get yourself excited, they are intentionally doing that to make you feel like you have a chance. There is no way your master could have spoken to you from here… I'm sure it was another one of their tricks, Ezra."

Ezra felt an anger growing inside him, at the fact that they could create an impression so well and twist him like that. He was growing more hate towards these people, and he didn't want to hold that back. But something out of her sentence made him think for a moment.

"What… did you just call me?" Ezra said looking at Dhara. He thought he heard her say Ezra, but he never told her his name. But he sat there confused for a moment and Dhara seemed to look at him confused and said, "I called you Dev… come on." She helped Ezra up fully and said, "We need to get to class."

Ezra followed Dhara, not really wanting to, but he did it anyway out of obligation, but he wished Dhara had at least given him a medpack or something to help ease the pain.

He did not have anything with Knives today, but he did notice Hevel had been showing up to a lot of his classes, and this got him confused. Didn't they say Hevel was a class-four? But he didn't make mention of it since he was barely making it through the day anyway.

In one class, they were practicing their ability to use the Force in a more direct manner, and Ezra was avoiding using his powers directly. As he attempted to do that one more time Hevel walked behind him and said, "You do know that if they catch you not taking this seriously you will be punished. Yes?"

Ezra turned to Hevel and said, "I don't want to do this. This is wrong." Ezra turned back towards what he was avoiding. In a cell was a prisoner who had a rag over their head, Ezra did not know who they were, but he was being told to use them to test his powers. They reminded him he could kill if he wished, but Ezra didn't even want to harm them. Hevel crossed his arms and said, "You could at least torture them and keep them alive."  
"I won't, they don't deserve this."

Hevel walked closer to the prisoner and said, "This person was accused of committing crimes against the Empire. They were given a fair trial and they were sentenced to death. But we took them instead and said if they survived five days of our training, they would be spared. For all of the lives this person took, you are willing to claim they are not worthy of death or at the very least suffering?"

"I have no reason to help the Empire with their jobs when I don't agree with them to begin with." Ezra replied. Hevel let out a sigh and said, "We all have our jobs to do, Dev Morgan. But this terrorist destroyed an imperial base and killed over fifty men and women all in the name of rebellion. Many children were left without families, many lives were never lived to their fullest, and many spouses lost the love of their life. They are men and women who are attempting to make a living in this galaxy, and when they are attacked without being provoked. It is wrong. Shouldn't you understand that? Do you think over fifty people just doing their jobs deserve to die?"

Ezra looked between the prisoner and Hevel, "No… but…"  
"But?"

Ezra straightened himself up and said, "How do you know if the Empire wronged them or not? What if their family or friends died because of the Empire attacking them unprovoked?"  
"So you think it is okay to take a life for a life? That doesn't sound very Jedi-like." Hevel said smirking a little.

Ezra stared at them for a while before saying, "I'm not saying that, I'm just trying to-"  
"Justify the actions of one side while victimizing another? Dev. You can lie to yourself all you want but the strongest message rebels like you leave to the majority is that you are willing to kill anyone who may be associated with the Empire. Even if that person was drafted into being a Stormtrooper at a young age. Even if that person is only doing their job to put food on the table. At most, this person may have lost their family, five or six people in the wrong manner, but their friends who fought with them, they may have been killing others too and the Empire was concerned for their safety."

Ezra shook his head and said, "The Empire-"  
"Does its job. You have some sort of idolization for rebellion when you do not seem to understand the damage it costs. Every time you destroy a base or ships, steal shipments, you don't make it harder on the people running. You make it harder on the every man."  
"But what the Empire does is wrong. It oppresses people."  
"We are giving you the opportunity right now to openly understand and grow your powers under the permission of the Empire."  
"You are forcing me to turn to the dark side. That isn't giving me a choice."  
"This is not the issue right now, Dev. The issue right now is that we have a prisoner who does not understand the consequences of looking at both sides."

Ezra looked at the prisoner as Hevel came close to him and said, "We spared you having to see their face. Justify your actions in your mind like you justify your actions with the rebels. Look at them and tell yourself that what you are doing is just. When someone kills so many people with no valid reason other than revenge, isn't that wrong?"  
"I… guess you're right."  
"So accept that, and give them the punishment they deserve for that." Hevel helped Ezra raise his arm and then let go of it, "Death or torture? Think of them as if they're someone from the Empire who deserves their punishment if it makes it easier."

Ezra closed his eyes and felt a hum that was almost familiar to him, but there was something different about it. And Ezra didn't open his eyes as he reached through the Force. He felt like he was tightening against something, and he heard screaming. He then suddenly felt flashes through his head.

Ezra saw this person's story, how they had a family. They were a man with a wife and two kids. But then Stormtroopers entered his home and ransacked the place. When they were about to break a precious item to his wife, she ran over and tried to stop them from doing that, and his wife began to struggle with them until they executed her right there and the husband shouted no.

It flashed again, and he was at the bar with his friends who were helping console him, and the Empire appeared on TV and Ezra felt that same hatred the man felt.

The scene flashed again and the man and his friends went over to a couple Stormtroopers and pulled them to the side, and the man got into a struggle with the Stormtroopers and killed one.

It flashed again to the Empire invading his home once more, taking his children away screaming as he swore he'd get them back. The scene flashed to more Stormtroopers shooting at him as he threw bombs at them and ran.

In another flash, the man's friends told him to stop, that he was going too far and that he needed to turn him in. But the man swore he wouldn't stop until the Empire was destroyed. He began planning something big, something drastic.

In a flash, the man was on Coruscant, and he brought a bag into a building for the training of Imperial agents. He ran out as soon as he dropped the bag and an explosion occurred, the man had an evil smile on his face, and he grabbed another bag from his ship and went to find another base to do the same thing.

_He did do wrong… he went too far… he didn't stop._

Ezra heard the man screaming and Ezra couldn't open his eyes as his hand tightened more.

_Don't feel bad… he deserves to be punished this way... Hevel was right…_

The screaming only intensified and Ezra felt like it was just easier to keep going, to do more, because he could do more. Ezra saw the look of fear on people's faces at the trials the man went through, the looks of children crying because they lost their parents. That connected with him personally. But Ezra wasn't trying to tell himself it was the Empire's fault. He was trying to tell himself this is why this man deserved punishment… this is why this man deserved to…

Ezra's connection to this man's mind was gone, it faded until all he could see was black, and there was silence. And Ezra felt cold in a familiar way that he did before. But he knew he was awake, but he feared what he'd see when he opened his eyes.

And when Ezra finally did open his eyes, he saw the stillness of the man, and he felt he went too far. But he suddenly felt a wave of relief and Hevel injected something into his arm that made all of the torture from the other day, and past few days fade away. And it was the best he had felt, and he wasn't sure why he was getting a positive feeling from this.

He just killed a man.

"You did a good thing Dev, the man was dangerous and deserved his execution."

_I just killed a man with the Force._

"Do not feel bad, you should feel good, you finally understand what is necessary to do for the good of everyone, and that is why you were just rewarded."

Ezra didn't want to admit he felt good, he wanted to deny that, it felt like nothing to him to end that man's life. He wanted to embrace that. But he wanted to scream as well. But instead he stood in silence.


End file.
